Protesters pelt World Youth day pilgrims with condoms
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 14:25:00 07/19/2008
SYDNEY -- Protesters pelted Catholic pilgrims with condoms Saturday as they made the most of a court ruling allowing them to "annoy" participants at the church's World Youth Day festival in Sydney.
A pilgrimage walk organized for the festival took many young worshippers through the city's gay district, where about 500 people demonstrated against Pope Benedict XVI's opposition to homosexuality and contraception.
Chanting "Pope go homo, gay is great" and singing "Pope is wrong, put a condom on", the protesters threw condoms at the pilgrims, who were making their way to Randwick racecourse for an overnight prayer vigil.
A drag queen dressed in pink going under the moniker "Pope Alice" also paraded before the pilgrims, while other protesters wore T-shirts with slogans such as "Thank God I'm an atheist" and "Bless me father for I am a homo".
There was a heavy police presence at the protest, including officers on horses, and demonstrators were cordoned off from the bulk of the worshippers.
But the police actions were limited after a court last week struck down a law aimed at stopping anyone from "annoying" pilgrims.
The Australian federal court said the law passed by the New South Wales government for the six-day youth celebration undermined free speech because annoyance was such a subjective term.
Activists had complained that the law could lead to arrests and fines of up to 5,500-dollars (US$5,335) for simply wearing a T-shirt with a slogan which could be deemed annoying to those at the festivities.
The pilgrims, who were attending the prayer vigil ahead of a papal mass Sunday involving an estimated 500,000 people, appeared unfazed by the protest, with some making peace signs as they passed by.
Maraget Leatuafi from New Zealand said pilgrims had been advised by World Youth day organizers not to retaliate if the protesters challenged their faith.
"They are allowed to have their say too about what they believe but maybe they need to do a bit more study (about the church)," the 55-year-old said.
Another pilgrim, Ruud, 15, from the Netherlands, said he was not bothered by the protest.
"It is their right to stand up for their views. We live in a democracy," he said.
The protesters were planning to hold a "hunky Jesus" competition later Saturday.
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