Hundreds of angry Christians protested at a museum in Haifa, Israel, demanding that the museum remove an exhibit that featured a “McJesus” sculpture. The sculpture – Ronald McDonald crucified on a cross – is part of a larger exhibit commenting on society’s worship of capitalism, but after photos of the crucified clown were shared on social media, a group of Christians became irate.
They rioted by throwing a firebomb at the museum and stones at police officers, injuring three of them. Police then used tear gas and stun grenades against the crowd.
According to NBC:
Church representatives brought their grievances to the district court Monday, demanding it order the removal of the exhibit’s most offensive items, including Barbie doll renditions of a bloodied Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
Museum director Nissim Tal said that he was shocked at the sudden uproar, especially because the exhibit — intended to criticize what many view as society’s cult-like worship of capitalism — had been on display for months. It has also been shown in other countries without incident.
The museum has refused to remove the artwork, saying that doing so would infringe on freedom of expression. But following the protests it hung a curtain over the entrance to the exhibit and posted a sign saying the art was not intended to offend.
“This is the maximum that we can do,” Tal said. “If we take the art down, the next day we’ll have politicians demanding we take other things down and we’ll end up only with colorful pictures of flowers in the museum.”
