Italian minister 'to wear Mohammed t-shirts'

An Italian cabinet minister from a right-wing party was today quoted as he planned to wear T-shirts bearing some of the prophet cartoons which have inflamed much of the Muslim world.

“I had some made for me and from today on I will wear some T-shirts with some of the cartoons contested by Islam,” Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli was quoted as saying in remarks to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Calderoli is a leader of the Northern League, a regional party with an anti-immigrant stance. “I am ready to give them away to whoever asks me, as a form of pacifism,” ANSA quoted the minister as saying.

Asked if this was meant as a provocation, Calderoli replied: “I would not call it a provocation. I would call it an invitation to true dialogue.”

His comment about dialogue appeared to be sarcastic since the minister was also quoted as saying: “It is time to stop telling the fairy tale that it is necessary to seek dialogue with these people.”