ROME, Feb 14: Italy’s Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli has had T-shirts made emblazoned with the anti-Islam cartoons in a move that could embarrass Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government.

Mr Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League, told Ansa news agency on Tuesday that the West had to stand up against Muslim extremists and offered to hand out the T-shirts to anyone who wanted them.

“I have had T-shirts made with the cartoons that have upset Islam and I will start wearing them today,” Ansa quoted Mr Calderoli as saying.

He said the T-shirts were not meant to be a provocation, but added that he saw no point trying to appease extremists.

“We have to put an end to this story that we can talk to these people. They only want to humiliate people. Full stop. And what are we becoming? The civilisation of melted butter?” Mr Calderoli said.

The League has long opposed mass immigration into Italy and its leaders say violence over the cartoon shows the dangers of allowing Muslim immigrants to settle here.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg of the religious war Islamist extremists have declared on us,” Mr Calderoli told reporters earlier this month.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last week urged Mr Calderoli to take a more moderate stance on the issue, the Italian press reported, but the minister said he had no intention of keeping quiet.

“As for Berlusconi, seeing as he has compared himself to Jesus Christ, I would call on him to follow (Christ’s) example and think about evangelising Christian values and not be evangelised by Islam,” Mr Calderoli was quoted as saying.—Reuters