The New York Times reports on opposition to the building of a new mosque in Munich:
“… a vocal minority of residents has resisted, holding protest meetings, collecting signatures, and filing a petition with the Bavarian Parliament. ‘Bavarian life’, the petition declares, ‘is marked by the drinking of beer and the eating of pork. In Muslim faith, both are unclean and forbidden.’ With the support of Bavaria’s conservative state government, the residents have been able to tie up the project in court…. ‘Whenever Muslims in Germany come out of their closets or hidden places, the controversy starts’, said Claus Leggewie, a political scientist at the University of Giessen who has written about mosques in Germany. ‘The protests begin on technical issues, like parking problems and noise’, he said. ‘But it has a cultural bias. There is a nationalist minority, which opposes immigration and especially Muslim immigration’.”
An experienced Muslim firearms officer has begun race and religious discrimination proceedings against the Metropolitan Police after he was removed from a close-protection unit guarding senior dignitaries, including Tony Blair.
The leader of the British National Party (BNP) has told a court that neither he nor his party are racist. Nick Griffin, 47, told Leeds Crown Court that in the early 1990s “the party could be described as racist” and himself “to a certain extent”. But he said this was no longer the case and said a speech in which he described Islam as a “wicked, vicious faith” was not intended to stir racial hatred.
Islamophobia on the March