Dozens of Christians gathered outside the Haifa Museum of Art on Friday to protest a work of art titled "McJesus" by Finnish artist Janei Leinonen, which portrays McDonald's character Ronald McDonald, crucified.
The piece is on display as part of an exhibit at the Haifa Museum of Art titled "Sacred Goods," devoted to the culture of consumption. It is not the only piece in the exhibit that ties into Jesus.
The exhibit opened last August and is scheduled to come down in February, but the protest against the Jesus-themed pieces began only in the past few days.
The protesters, mostly residents of Haifa and the area, called for the museum to remove the pieces from the exhibit, calling them offensive to Christians. The protesters threw rocks at police, wounding three officers.
Wadia Abu Nasser, media advisor to the Assembly of Catholic Bishops in Israel, said, "This use of Christian symbols is an unacceptable attack and [we] demand that these offensive pieces be removed immediately."
The protesters are also demanding that Haifa Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem cancel city funding for the museum, a demand that received support from Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev.
After Regev said city hall should stop its funding to the museum, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel contacted Deputy Attorney-General Dina Silber and asked her to "once again make it clear to the culture minister that she has no authority to intervene in the content of art work."
Following the protest, the Hof District Police said: "We see great importance in promoting respectful dialogue with religious figures along with representatives of the local authority to calm things down."
The Haifa Museum of Art issued a statement in response to the protests: "Discourse about art, whatever it entails, must never spill over into violence and must be respectful, even in volatile situations."
The Israel Christian Aramaic Association and the Jewish rights group Btsalmo said in a joint response, "We condemn any violence toward security forces. However, this proves that this is a work of art that offends religious sensibilities, and must be removed."
