Police probe rude Buddha

Detectives from a 'hate crime unit' have asked an art gallery to turn around a sculpture of Buddha with comical genitalia, on the grounds that it upset passers-by.

Police said they received a number of complaints from members of the public who saw the bronze statue - which shows a penis and testicles in the shape of a banana and eggs - on display in the window of the Saint Giles Street Gallery in Norwich.

Now gallery owner David Koppel has agreed to turn the sculpture - A Trilogy: The Iconoclasts, by artist Colin Self - so that the front cannot be seen from the street.



A police spokeswoman said detectives from the force's hate crime unit looked into the complaints and had spoken to Mr Koppel.

'We have liaised with the management of the gallery in order to reach a solution which both upholds the principles of freedom of artistic expression but also prevents any offence being caused to any general member of the public or faith group.'

As a result of this sterling police work, the Buddha's comically-shaped penis now points into the gallery, rather than at passers by.

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