Muslim campaigners have accused Downing Street of condoning Islamophobia by publishing a petition which warns that building a large mosque complex will “cause terrible violence and suffering”.
The petition is one of the most popular on No 10’s website, with over 45,000 signatures to date. It was posted under the name of Jill Barham. Attempts by Guardian Unlimited to contact her have been unsuccessful.
The writer of a blog called “English Rose”, which links to sites supporting the BNP and “opposes the Islamification of this country”, claims to be the author of the e-petition.
It states: “We, the Christian population of this great country England would like the proposed plan to build a mega-mosque in east London scrapped. This will only cause terrible violence and suffering and more money should go into the NHS.”