Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/844884
3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 5 JULY 2017 News CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 His sen- timent has already been shared by new Nationalist MP Ivan Bartolo, who said in Parliament earlier this week that the Last Supper poster was "provocative" and that the removal of religious vilification has left many Maltese without legal recourse to defend themselves when their religions have been vilified. Henry Battistino warned that the mockery of Jesus would have snowballed had he not stepped in, and that someone might have eventually erected a poster of Jesus smok- ing a joint at the Last Supper. More seriously, he warned that the poster could have prompted someone to satirise the Proph- et Mohammed, which would have then sparked the ire of hot-blooded Mus- lims. "If someone had erected a poster mocking Moham- med, then some Muslims would have issued a fatwa against him, which could have been deadly," he said. Battistino dis- missed accusations of hypocrisy aired at him by people who recounted how his far-right group had handed out ham sandwiches during an anti-Islam protest at Msida last year. "We had handed out ham sandwich- es because we had heard that a school was banning stu- dents from bring- ing luncheon meat to schools because it was offending Mus- lim students," he said. "We were taking a stand, but in no way did we vilify Islam… there were no posters mocking the Prophet Mohammed at that protest." Battistino said that he was in no way encouraging people to take the law into their own hands, but that citizens sometimes need to take direct action in "exceptional cases" to nudge the authorities into action. Indeed, he cited how Movi- ment Graffitti activists had last year broken through the gates of Manoel Island, an action that eventually prompted MIDI to keep the island's gates open to the public. "I didn't do what I did because I wanted to play the hero. Indeed, I felt a great deal of stress as I was tearing down the poster, which is why I had to light up a cigarette. "When there's something wrong going on and there's no institutional back-up, then yes, sometimes you have to take a stand. If you are a true Christian, then you consider manmade laws as secondary to the laws of God." NYB to replace poster with 'generic' advert Meanwhile, NYB owner Tommy Di- acono confirmed with MaltaToday that he will not print another copy of the controver- sial poster, but will in- stead replace it with a "generic" advert. "I miscalculated how much the origi- nal poster was going to offend people and I now just want to put the issue behind me," he said. "I've offended too many people in this past week and al- though many people have told me to put the poster back, this situation has simply exhausted me and I just want to move on now." He reiterated that he would not seek legal action against Battisti- no and fellow Patrijot- ti candidate Desmond Falzon for ripping down the poster. "I want to give an example of how to turn the other cheek, and also I just want to move on from this is- sue," he said. The poster put up by NYB might have come as a surprise for some. But many other parodies of the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci have been circulating for many years – on the internet and in the world of art curation. One such parody, a painting by Zeng Fanzhi, scored an auction record for Asian contemporary art when it sold for €23 million at a Hong Kong auction in 2013. NYB to put up generic poster laws as secondary to the laws of God." NYB to replace poster with 'generic' advert owner Tommy Di- acono confirmed with MaltaToday that he will not print another copy of the controver- sial poster, but will in- stead replace it with a "generic" advert. how much the origi- nal poster was going to offend people and I now just want to put the issue behind me," he said. "I've offended too many people in this past week and al- though many people have told me to put the poster back, this situation has simply exhausted me and I just want to move on now." would not seek legal action against Battisti- no and fellow Patrijot- ti candidate Desmond Falzon for ripping down the poster. example of how to turn the other cheek, and also I just want to move on from this is- sue," he said.