Posted on 12/19/2004 4:49:49 AM PST by bill1952
LONDON (AFP) - Hundreds of Sikhs tried to storm a theatre in Birmingham, halting a play they say mocks their religion and slightly injuring five police officers in the melee, police said.
The protesters at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre forced the cancellation of the play "Behzti" (Dishonor), which depicts acts of sexual abuse and murder in a Sikh place of worship, they said.
Two men were arrested for public order offenses, police added.
"There have been peaceful protests outside the theatre all week due to a play which has caused upset in the Sikh community," a police spokeswoman said.
Nonetheless, police said five people had been arrested during the earlier protests. Three of them had been released on police bail pending further inquiries and one had been cautioned.
"Tonight there were up to 400 people outside the theatre," the police spokeswoman added.
"A large number of these protesters made a concerted effort to get into the theatre to disrupt the performance and this caused damage and disorder," she said.
"Around four or five officers received minor injuries...," she said.
"The situation is calm and around 100 or so protesters remain outside the theatre," the spokeswoman added. "Negotiations are taking place beween the theatre, protesters and police."
The play, written by Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, has a scheduled run at the theatre until the end of December and explores issues of sexual abuse, manipulation and relationships inside a Gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship.
The three main political parties in the area had said earlier they were worried about the play's impact after Sikh community leaders asked for the setting to be changed from a temple to a community center.
Labour leader Albert Bore said the theatre should have known that by using a place of worship as the backdrop the play would offend the Sikh community and others who respect religious beliefs.
But the theatre said the play is a work of fiction and makes no comment about Sikhism as a faith or its followers in general.
The theatre management said it had "been transparent with leaders in the Sikh community about the content and nature of the play in discussions over the last few months and has agreed to provide audiences with a statement written by those community members who do not approve of the play.
"The theatre has also made efforts to ensure positive representation of Sikhism as a faith in its programme notes," it said.
"Equally the characters in the play are not intended to be representative of the Sikh community, they are works of fiction characterising the fallibility of human nature and the injustice and hypocrisy that exists in the real world."
Oh no, not the sikhs as well!
Sikhs are 1000x better than Mooöselimbs
-Anyone else tired of multiculturalism?-
*sigh* yes.
At least they brought towels to clean up the mess they made...
At least the Sikh's care enough about their religion to protest, and then act. Christians could learn something from this.
I suppose we could say the same thing about the moslems that are demanding Islamic law at the workplace in England.
They certainly do care.
Couldn't resist that one..
That's just Sikh...
One raghead is as good as the next raghead.
Sihks are not Muslims. The Muslims tried to kill off this religion. They do wear turbines on their heads but that's it!
Turbines!? I'll bet the noise keeps them awake at night-LOL!
(Wife, shouting to be heard over the din)
"HONEY? COULD YOU AT LEAST PUT YOUR TURBINE OUT ON THE FRONT PORCH OR SOMETHING? I NEED TO GET SOME SLEEP!"
Yeah, Sikhs are cool. They tend to be pretty good citizens here. They work hard, don't bother anybody and don't take a lot of crap, either.
Islam would be no trouble to Christianity if Christians took their religion more seriously.
Unlike Islamic muslims American Christians built a country based on religious freedoms - not forced apostasy.
Because of the lackadaisical attitudes of many American Christians we now find American Christianity in a defensive position it hasn't known before, and some unified Christian activism is long overdue.
Good basic Sihk information:
http://www.gurmat.info/sms/smsarticles/sikhmartyrs/
Their leaders were tortured and persecuted by Muslims and Hindus
I respect people from all over. I just didn't expect so many of them to arrive all at once. My own people moved away to make room for them. Now my culture has practicly vanished and nobody gives a fig about that.
This isn't about multiculturalism. This is about someone taking a great big eraser, and destroying everything that went before.
Folks come here and want to celebrate Mexican holidays, Armenian holidays... They want to turn this nation into their former nations. Whenever possible they talk in the language of that former nation. This is disruptive in the workplace and a general pain in the a$$.
It's one thing to be exposed to people from all over. It's another entirely to be drowning in a sea of confusion with islands of foreign nationals at every turn.
Our policies regarding foreign nationals and immigration are absolutely insane.
Maybe we could exchange Wahabis for Sikhs.
Glad you liked it. Sihks are OK in my book.
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