Demonstrators protest 'Passion'
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Jim Caviezel (center) and Mel Gibson (right) work on "The Passion."
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CNN's Aaron Brown reports some Jewish and Roman Catholic groups are concerned Mel Gibson's new film 'The Passion' could fuel anti-Semitism (August 13)
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- "The Passion," a movie about Jesus conceived and directed by Mel Gibson, could re-ignite violence against Jews, protesters warned Thursday in a rally outside the midtown Manhattan headquarters of News Corporation, owner of film studio 20th Century Fox.
Described as a vivid depiction of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life, the film is raising concerns among Jewish and Roman Catholic groups.
"This film is dangerous for Jews all over the world. This film can potentially lead to violence directed against the Jewish community. This film will result in anti-Semitism, bigotry. It really takes us back to the Dark Ages, plain and simple," said Assemblyman Dov Hikins, D-New York.
"Two thousand years of Jews, millions of Jews, being slaughtered through the ages, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and so on and so forth, all for the so-called sin of the crucifixion of Jesus, and all the work that has been done by the Catholic Church in Rome to move away from that, Mel Gibson is turning the clock back to the Dark Ages," he added.
Hikins was joined by Councilman Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, and councilman David Weprin, D-Queens, among other community representatives.
Asked if he had seen the movie, Hikins said he saw a brief clip of it "and the brief clip that I saw of the film, of a mob of Jews yelling for the crucifixion of Jesus, was enough to scare the daylights out of me."
