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'T-shirt stoked Muslim anger'
18/02/2006 20:48 - (SA)
Rome - An Italian minister who wore a t-shirt on state television featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad - the same ones that have outraged Muslims across the world - resigned on Saturday.
His resignation follows a deadly attack on the Italian consulate in Libya.
A powerful charity, led by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, had blamed Italian reforms minister Roberto Calderoli for Friday's violence, in which 11 people were killed.
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and politicians from across Italy's political spectrum had called on Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League, to step down, accusing him of stoking Muslim anger by reproducing the cartoons on a t-shirt.
Calderoli said he had quit out of a "sense of responsibility and certainly not because it was demanded by the government and the opposition.
"I don't intend to allow further the shameful manipulation which is being brought to bear against me and against the Northern League from members of the ruling coalition."
Italian officials say at least 11 people died and nearly 40 were wounded when protesters stormed the Italian consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
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