MADONNA - RUSSIAN ORTHODOX RADICALS DEMAND MADONNA BAN

Members of a radical Russian Orthodox group staged a protest on Monday (04SEP06) in Moscow, spearing a photo of pop star MADONNA and demanding a ban on her concert in which she stages a mock-crucifixion. The Orthodox church has urged followers to stay away from the show, in which Madonna sings from a crucifix while wearing a crown of thorns, labelling it as "blasphemy". Tickets to the HUNG UP singer's 12 September (06) show, part of her Confessions world tour, had been sold nearly two months in advance, despite protests from Christian churches. LEONID SIMANOVICH-NIKSHICH, head of a group calling itself the Union of Orthodox Religious Banner Bearers, told approximately 100 supporters, "We will never allow her to desecrate our greatest icons. "We demand to drive Madonna out of Russian territory. They say Madonna is very rich, but what is all that wealth if a person had lost their soul?" Simanovich-Nikshich and a couple of supporters then speared a portrait of the pop star with a wooden spike, ripped it up and tossed the pieces on the ground and stamped on them. The Vatican also accused Madonna of blasphemy when she staged the mock crucifixion in Rome, Italy last month (AUG06).