Atheists kicked out of UK college fair for displaying 'blasphemous Mohammed pineapple'

London, Fri, 05 Oct 2012 ANI

London, Oct. 5 (ANI): A group of atheist students were thrown out of their fresher's fair in London because they displayed a pineapple labelled 'Mohammed' on their stall.

The Reading University's Atheist, Humanist and Secularist Society (RAHS) said they wanted to celebrate free speech and promote their upcoming debate 'Should we respect religion?'

But they were ordered to remove the offending fruit by union staff who said their actions were causing 'distress' to a number of Muslim students and other societies.

RAHS refused to remove the fruit, citing that they had labelled the pineapple after the Islamic prophet to 'encourage discussion about blasphemy, religion, and liberty'.

"We wanted to celebrate the fact that we live in a country in which free speech is protected and where it is lawful to call a pineapple by whatever name one chooses," the Daily Mail quoted a spokesman from RAHS, as saying.

They claimed the union then issued them with the ultimatum: "Either the pineapple goes or you do".

According to RAHS, a group of students surrounded their stall and removed the pineapple's name tag before the society was 'forced to leave the venue'. (ANI)