Aumism : French guru wins day's reprieve

CASTELLANE, France (Reuters) - French attempts to cut a larger than life guru down to size have been thwarted after a condemned white statue of the self-proclaimed messiah proved too tough for their dynamite.

But the mammoth effigy of the founder of the Golden Lotus cult, which has towered over a small village in southeastern France for more than a decade, won only a day's reprieve.

Authorities insist it never had planning permission and must go.

Security forces had cleared the cult's hilltop headquarters at dawn on Wednesday and explosive experts laid charges to destroy the sculpture of sect founder Gilbert Bourdin, otherwise known as His Holiness Lord Hamsah Manar.

However, the area's local government prefect said they had not been aware of how tough the iron reinforcements in the base of the monument were, and detonation was postponed.
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Cult followers have compared the planned demolition of the 33-metre (110-ft) high statue, erected in 1990, to the Afghan Taliban regime's destruction this year of colossal 1,500-year-old Buddhist statues.
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As police arrived at the compound early Wednesday to carry out the court order, one member of the cult scrambled to the top of the statue to protest against its destruction.

Bringing him down "required some gymnastics and a lot of attention on our part", prefect Lemaire said.

Other believers scuffled with police and shouted in protest.

Cult President Christine Amory slammed the demolition as "state terrorism" and said her members were outraged. But she added they were pacifists and would not get violent.
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