'Virgin Mary has no place in Strait Street public toilet'

The man who fervently campaigned to ban the Da Vinci Code film is now calling for the removal of the words "Virgin Mary" and "Vatican" from the art installation forming part of the refurbished Strait Street public toilets.

"Why put the name of the Virgin Mary on a public toilet? It is ridiculous and it hurts," Vince Marshall said when contacted.

"Only a narrow-minded person would do something like that when there are so many other words one can use. And why the Vatican? Is it just to put salt on the wound at a time when the Vatican is under attack?"

Mr Marshall felt it was hypocritical of people to accept such an offensive work and then welcome the Pope.

In 2006, Mr Marshall had collected 4,071 signatures in a petition calling on authorities to ban the release of the Da Vinci Code on big screen. However, he had destroyed it in a bonfire after the Church frowned on his plans to organise a pilgrimage led by the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

He is now on another mission to defend his religion and yesterday he said: "Probably the people who supported this installation were clapping for the Pope and kissing his ring. We have to decide: are we Catholics or not?"

He argued that, while people were free to express themselves, they were not free to hurt others.

"Otherwise I am free to kill or steal. That is not freedom."

Mr Marshall said more than 200 people had signed his petition and he intended to present it to the Curia, the Prime Minister and the Valletta local council on Saturday.

Meanwhile, he has spoken to the Valletta police, who he says agree with him but cannot do anything about it, and mayor Alexiei Dingli, who stood by the installation as a work of art.

"If nothing happens I will then take further action," he warned, adding he might even choose to sit outside the toilet day and night in peaceful protest.

Norbert Attard, the artist responsible, is shocked by this reaction to what he felt was an innocuous piece of conceptual art inspired by the rich and vibrant history of the Valletta street, known for prostitution and entertainment.

He said his work was inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel V, which mentions Valletta and the Sette Giugno in its final chapters.

He said he wanted to explore what the letter V could stand for by listing various words beginning with the letter and having some sort of relation to the street. He selected words from the dictionary which he felt held some significance to the place.

"The street is known for combining the sacred with the profane. In fact there are various images and statues of the Virgin Mary in the street. Should we remove them too?"

Mr Attard said the Vatican reference made sense since Strait Street was the birthplace of the Blessed Nazju Falzon.

He said everyone had the right to register their hurt to any form of expression but when he received e-mails telling him his work of art was a disgrace, he could not believe it.

"I can think of a lot of disgraceful things. Such as racism, paedophilia, being uncompassionate... This is not one of them."

He said he never intended to offend anyone and, although not particularly religious, he had a great respect and admiration for Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and practising religious people. He wished people would try harder to understand conceptual art before criticising it. He said the country was becoming intolerant in many ways and such reactions were fundamentalist and fanatical.