Norwich, England -- It was supposed to be the centrepiece of a display at a Norwich art gallery but local police has to turn the bronze Buddha statue with a banana and two eggs on its lap around after the sculpture was declared to be offensive.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the gallery also features Christ crucified on the back of a flying bomber and Hindu god Ganesh sitting beneath a Nazi helmet, but only the Buddha has been deemed offensive.

Local police from the hate crime unit swooped down the gallery after receiving complaints from local Buddhists.

"We have had a complaint in respect of the prominent exhibition of this statue on the basis that it causes religious offense," a Norfolk police spokesman said.

Gallery owner David Koppel, who faces arrest, acceded to the police request to turn it so that it is facing away from the street, - at least, for the time being.

"The police have now threatened to impound the sculpture and arrest me if it remains on public display," said Koppel. "I have, for the time being, agreed to turn it away from the window."

However, he added that he intends to return it to its full glory and turn it back facing the street as soon as returns from holiday next week.

Colin Self, the artist who created the statue, justified his opus saying, "One of the points of the work is to highlight how, in a global village where different cultures collide."

"You cannot help but upset somebody, somewhere, somehow," he added.

However, Tom Llewellyn, of the Norwich Buddhist Centre, said he doesn't believe "it has much value or imagination."

"It is clearly intended to be provocative," he said.

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