The Mayor of Moscow says there are no plans to build a new mosque in the city, and says the "excessive" number of economic migrants was a "harmful thing".

"It has turned out that the praying Muslims are not at all Russian citizens and they are not Moscow residents. They are labor migrants. There are only 10 percent of Moscow residents among them and building mosques for everyone who wants it – I think this will be over the top," Sergey Sobyanin said in an interview with Moscow's Echo radio.

The top city official went on to say that "Muscovites now get irritated by people who speak a different language, have different manners, with aggressive behavior. This is not purely ethnic, but this is connected with some ethnic traits," Sobyanin said.

At the same time, the Moscow Mayor explained that there are no ethnic enclaves in the city and expressed the hope that such enclaves would never appear as closed districts like that usually have a very high crime rate.

RT, 1 March 2013

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A court in Moscow ruled Monday that an anti-Islam film that has sparked violent demonstrations around the world can no longer be shown in Russia.

Tverskoi court's ruling follows a similar local decision taken last week by a court in Grozny, the provincial capital of Russia's Muslim-dominated province of Chechnya.

In Moscow, Justice Ministry spokeswoman Marina Gridneva said the film was deemed extremist because it could incite ethnic and religious hatred.

Russia's communications minister had warned that authorities would bar access to YouTube if its owner, Google Inc., failed to abide by a court order to block access in this nation to the U.S.-produced film, which mocks Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad.

Google in Russia has said it could restrict access to the video, if it received a court order outlawing it, but the company declined to discuss that issue with The Associated Press on Monday evening.

The low-budget film, "Innocence of Muslims," was produced by a U.S. citizen and denigrated the Prophet Muhammad by portraying Islam's holiest figure as a fraud, womanizer and child molester.

The RIA-Novosti news agency quoted mufti Shafig Pshikhachev, head of the Coordination Center of Muslims in the North Caucasus, as welcoming Monday's court ruling in Moscow.

"This is a positive step in defense of believers," Pshikhachev said. "Unfortunately, we are witnessing such events regularly, so I think the adoption of a law is good. We need a legal method of protecting the faithful and our holy places."

Associated Press, 1 October 2012

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Up to 2,000 people rallied in a Moscow neighborhood after local authorities announced the building of a Muslim cultural center and mosque in the area. The protest ended with officials being forced to cancel the planned construction.

The impromptu demonstration on Wednesday evening was gathered through social networks. Residents of the Mitino district came to voice their fears over the plans to build a Muslim cultural center and mosque in the neighborhood, which would be able to accommodate up to 60,000 believers during a service.

The would-be Muslim prayer house is subject to much speculation, even though construction project is far from being finalized. The rumor mill describes it as "a 13-story mega mosque," which would broadcast calls to a morning prayer all over the neighborhood.

The protesters living in the residential area were concerned that its infrastructure would not be able to deal with increased traffic after the mosque is finished. This would result in terrible traffic jams during Friday prayers and large Muslim holidays, they said.

There are also fears that the inflow of worshipers, many of whom would be guest workers from Central Asia seeking their fortune in Moscow, would drive up crime rates. Disaffection towards Muslims was evidenced in some online comments on the event.

"I am firmly against it! We are flooded with those aliens, and now they want to have this insult standing virtually under my window... Let them build it outside of Moscow. There is plenty space there, so they all shove off there," one of the comments read.

The rally lasted for about two hours. People, who came in their hundreds, signed a petition against the construction project and voiced their concerns to municipal officials, who came to try and alleviate fears.

Despite attempts by the prefect of Moscow's North-Western administrative area, where Mitino is located, to curb the public outcry, the crowed remained adamant. 

"There are quite a lot of Muslims living in our area. They too need a spiritual place, a mosque. We cannot deny them," Vladimir Gorovetsky said, as he answered questions from readers of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.

However, on Thursday, it was announced that the Muslim cultural center will not be built there.

The demonstration was not sanctioned, but some 100 police officers present turned a blind eye on the fact and did not try to disperse the crowd. Four people were briefly detained for disturbing behavior. According to blog accounts, three of them were activists of nationalist movements who picked up the news and came to the rally from other Moscow districts.

Russia Today, 20 September 2012

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