UK – Campaigners opposed to a super-mosque being built next to the 2012 Olympic site are celebrating blocking the development of the venue.
The mosque and Islamic centre, which would have been the largest in Europe, capable of housing 12,000 worshippers, was being planned for a 7.3 hectare site in Stratford. But Newham council has announced it will issue an eviction notice against the Islamist group behind the mosque, Tablighi Jamaat, which has 80 million followers worldwide.
The mosque has faced opposition from both the local community and religious groups, with almost 50,000 people putting their names to a petition against the development since the sect unveiled its plans for the site in 2007.
Christian Peoples Alliance leader Alan Craig said that publicly, Labour politicians had bent over backwards to support plans for the mosque, despite local opposition. “For three long years Newham Council have allowed Tablighi Jamaat to use the site without any planning permission. Yet, just weeks before local elections, Labour concede that the illegal development has to stop,” he said.
The Muslim Council of Britain has criticised the eviction as “unfounded hostility and hysteria” while other Muslim groups welcomed the move. Minhaj-ul-Quran, which advises the government on combating youth radicalisation, said that the development of such a venue should be a “community effort”, and not the work of a single group.
Craig believes the issue is far from resolved, with Tablighi Jamaat likely to appeal. “This is not a victory for locals, this is just a set-back for this group, not the end of the story.”
