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Berlin (dpa) - Riot police, the media and celebrities turned out in force in Berlin Monday evening for a controversial production of the opera Idomeneo, but there was no evidence of any protesters upset by its anti-religion message.
The Deutsche Oper theatre in Berlin was staging a version of the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart opera where the hero mocks the severed heads of the Prophet Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Buddha and Poseidon.
Riot police took up positions on every side of the theatre. The formally-attired audience had to pass singly through metal-detector gates to show that they were not carrying knives or guns.
Opera-loving German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was the ranking member of the audience.
He had earlier invited prominent German residents of Muslim heritage to attend to show their commitment to free speech. The opera had been called off in September for fear that theatre staff might be harmed by outraged fundamentalist Muslims.
Schaeuble posed for photos with the head of the opera, Kirsten Harms, but declined to answer questions.
The mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, also attended.
An opera house spokesman said the performance was being performed exactly as prescribed by director Hans Neuenfels in 2003, including the controversial closing scene, which was devised by Neuenfels and is not part of the Mozart script.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
