Article

2007-04-19 Europe

French far-right groups block Great Mosque plans

A French court on Tuesday ordered construction work on a mosque in the Mediterranean port of Marseille to be suspended in response to legal action by far-right groups. The court found in favour of the National Front (FN), the Movement for France (MPF) and the National Republican Movement (MNR), who accused the city of granting a veiled subsidy for the mosque's construction, violating French law on the separation of Church and state.

Marseille city hall decided last July to break a decades-long deadlock over the future mosque by allocating a plot of land for its construction, on a 99-year lease, for a charge of 300 euros per year. The Marseille administrative court overturned the city's decision, ruling that the generous conditions amounted to a subsidy in disguise, demanding that the mosque renegotiate the terms of the lease in the next two months. Jean-Claude Gondard, secretary general of Marseille city hall, said the court decision would cause a delay of three to four months at most, and that a new lease would be submitted to the city council in June. He said the city was committed to file for planning permission in the autumn, but that "the mosque's opponents are very political, and liable to try to block the project every step of the way."

Moulay Abderrahmane Ghoul, regional head of the French Council for the Mulsim Religion, denounced the far-right lawsuit as a "xenophobic and racist political act", but said "the city's will to build the mosque" was not in question... While Marseille's Muslim community is estimated at around 250,000 people, the city's 62 places of worship provide room for only around 6,200 faithful.

Posted by Seafarious 2007-04-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [10 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Moulay Abderrahmane Ghoul

What an appropriate name.

Posted by Icerigger">Icerigger 2007-04-19 01:56|| 2007-04-19 01:56|| Front Page Top

#2 accused the city of granting a veiled subsidy

Heh. Get used to veils of all kinds, France.

Posted by gromky 2007-04-19 05:05|| 2007-04-19 05:05|| Front Page Top

#3 You may as well give the land permanently, They will take it as their own anyway.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-04-19 06:23|| 2007-04-19 06:23|| Front Page Top

#4 How can this possibly be deemed a "racist act"? Islam is not a race! Idiots, all.

Posted by Angetle Platypus4112 2007-04-19 17:01|| 2007-04-19 17:01|| Front Page Top

#5 While Marseille's Muslim community is estimated at around 250,000 people, the city's 62 places of worship provide room for only around 6,200 faithful.

Awww, that's too bad.
Pakistan's got plenty of mosques. Why don't they send the other 243,800 "faithful" there and they can do the Mo thing whenever they want?

Posted by tu3031 2007-04-19 17:11|| 2007-04-19 17:11|| Front Page Top

#6 Time to set up another "Friday Night Pig Race and Barbeque" next door! :-)

Posted by gorb 2007-04-19 18:02|| 2007-04-19 18:02|| Front Page Top

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