Aquarium on Ice,’

TOKYO — An amusement park on the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu has closed a skating rink after being inundated with complaints about thousands of dead fish and other sea creatures frozen under the ice.

Space World, a theme park in the city of Kitakyushu, opened the rink two weeks ago with about 5,000 fish frozen beneath the surface, calling it an “unprecedented attraction.”

The park specifically designed the “Aquarium on Ice” to attract more visitors. Instead, it ended up alienating them. A public furor broke out on social media, with many accusing the amusement park of cruelty to animals.

“Why do they do such a thing of bad taste?” one commenter wrote on Facebook. “Playing on the dead fish in the ice is nothing but insanity,” wrote another. “Isn’t it a desecration of lives?”On Sunday, Space World apologized on its website, saying it would close the rink until further notice.

“We seriously take to heart a lot of various opinions, such as ‘you shouldn’t use these creatures in entertainments or events,’ or ‘poor fish,’ ” the announcement on the home page read. “We deeply apologize to all who had unpleasant feelings about the ice aquarium.”

In an interview with NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster, Toshimi Takeda, the general manager of Space World, said, “We thought that we could provide an opportunity for visitors to enjoy ice skating while learning about various kinds of fish.”

“We regret this terribly,” he added.

NHK reported that the park would melt the rink to remove the fish and planned to hold a memorial service for them. It may also use the dead sea creatures as fertilizer.

According to the Japanese news media, the fish, crabs and other shellfish were already dead when the amusement park bought them at a wholesale market. The park also placed photographs of larger fish, like whale sharks, under the ice.

Not all visitors were appalled by the exhibit.

“What’s the difference between skating over the beautifully decorated rink with fish in the ice that are already dead and will only be thrown away, and visiting a museum to look at already dead dinosaurs, also beautifully decorated?” Oshita Ayano posted on Facebook. “I’m looking forward to the next plan.”

Pakistan's 'first cyber harassment hotline' goes live Dec 1

The Digital Rights Foundation has announced that it will launch Pakistan's 'first cyber harassment hotline' on Dec 1.

The service will be available at 0800-39393 .

The announcement made on DRF's Facebook page said the hotline is a "free, safe and confidential service" for victims of online harassment which aims to provide legal advice, digital security support, psychological counselling and a referral system to victims.

"It will begin its operations on Dec 1, 2016," the DRF said.

The launch of the helpline is part of the DRF's 16 Days of Activism on Violence Against Women.