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(Wellington) New Zealand's national Muslim body said

Wednesday a Canadian-owned TV network's decision to broadcast a South Park cartoon episode showing a bleeding statue of the Virgin Mary was contemptuous and tasteless.

The comedy program shows a statue of Mary bleeding, taken to be a miracle and investigated by Pope Benedict, who dismisses it as menstruation.

Titled "Bloody Mary", the episode was previously aired in the United States and is available for download on the Web. It drew protests in New Zealand after TV Works - a subsidiary of Canadian-owned Canwest International - confirmed it would air the program on its C4 network.

Originally scheduled to air in May, the timing for the episode was shifted to Wednesday because there was "no benefit" in allowing protests over the broadcast to carry on for months, said TV Works' chief operating officer Rick Friesen.

Friesen said the network felt some public wrath over the decision to air the program, with most of the feedback negative.

"We felt it best to end the thing quickly, rather than drag it out for three months," he said, adding: "We believe the reality is a lot less than the perception."

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