Inter Milan football strip 'offends Muslims'
By Megan Levy
Last Updated: 2:23am GMT 13/12/2007
A football strip worn by Italian team Inter Milan is at the centre of a legal row after a lawyer claimed it offended "Muslim sensibilities".
Players wore the new strip - a white shirt with large red cross on it - in a Champions League match last month against Turkish team Fenerbahçe to celebrate the club's centenary.
But a Turkish lawyer, Baris Kaska, took exception to the "Crusader-style" cross which he said symbolised "Western racist superiority over Islam".
He claimed the offending shirt reminded Turks of an emblem of the Christian order of the Knights Templar.
Mr Kaska, who specialises in European law, has lodged a complaint in a local court against the club.
He is seeking damages, and is appealing to Uefa to annul the match, which Inter Milan won 3-0.
Mr Kaska told the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia: "That cross only brings one thing to mind - the symbol of the Templar Knights.
"It made me think immediately of the bloody days of the past. While I was watching the game I felt profound grief in my soul."
See the rest of the story and a picture of the "offending" team strip here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/12/wfootball112.xml
