Geert Wilders has launched a new website, MoskNee (MosqueNo), which aims to offer advice to non-Muslims who want to mount a legal challenge to plans for a new mosque in their area. The site claims:

"Netherlands is not an Islamic country and should never be. Yet we see the influence of Islam increase hand over hand.... Under the influence of the fast-growing Muslim population – around 1 million people in 2013 – the number of mosques has increased sharply. Netherlands now has more than 450.... What would be nice is a Netherlands without mosques. The PVV therefore says: enough is enough. As far as we are concerned there will be no more mosque in Netherlands."

In an interview with Algemeen Dagblad Wilders states that "the mosque is a symbol of an ideology of hatred, violence and oppression" and that ideally the PVV would like to ban mosques from the Netherlands altogether. However, this has proved legally impossible, so the PVV has adopted a different approach. The purpose of the initiative is to promote "more resistance to the Islamisation of the Netherlands", Wilders explains. He also admits that MoskNee has been set up in conscious imitation of Gavin Boby's Law and Freedom Foundation (aka Mosquebusters) in the UK.

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More than 4000 people have signed a petition against a controversial plan to convert a disused bank into a mosque ahead of a meeting next week to decide its future.

Councillors will decide on Monday whether the bank chambers in Green Lane can be developed into a mosque. Worcester Park resident Jacki Chillman appealed to others who do not want the plans to go ahead to make sure they make their presence felt at the meeting.

She said the plan would bring in traffic the area cannot handle, is not necessary, does not have enough parking and will not be widely used by the local community and thinks councillors on the development control committee should knock back the long-running application when they meet to consider it on Monday, December 3.

Miss Chillman said: "It's mainly because of the traffic congestion it will cause. People are opposed to this, there have been hundreds of objections and people have signed petitions – councillors need to act on behalf of the majority of people.

"The parking is terrible, the majority of the people who will use it are not from the Worcester Park area. The applicant says it will enhance the community – but that's only for a specific group of people.

"I'd have the same complaints if it was a nightclub or a nursery because the area cannot handle the traffic. That building would be suitable for a solicitor's office or something like that – not something which will have so many people coming to it."

Plans to convert the building into a mosque have been around since 2009 when it was bought but the planning application was only submitted this year.

The council has received more than 100 representations in support of the mosque on the grounds there is need for it in the community, it will bring customers to nearby shops and businesses, it will reduce traffic to the Kingston mosque and it will make good use of the building.

The meeting will happen at Cheam High School, Chatsworth Road, Cheam from 7.30pm on Monday, December 3 and is open to the public.

Surrey Comet, 2 December 2012

As is usually the case with mosque planning applications, the claim that opposition is based solely on concerns about traffic and parking cannot disguise the fact that many anti-mosque campaigners have very different motives.

Some of them make no attempt to hide this. "We all seem to be expressing our opposition largely based upon parking and traffic congestion", one objector recently complained on the Worcester Park Blog. "Am I the only person concerned that this will lead to the devaluation of property, closing of businesses and the islamification of the area?"

Another comment reads: "There are more than enough Mosque's in England Would a Church be allowed to be built in a Muslim country? I think its a disgrace to even think about building a Mosque in Worcester Park."

The Worcester Park Blog's Facebook event page, Public Meeting: Worcester Park mosque planning application decision, features even more extreme statements. Here are some examples:

"There are already 6 Muslims centres within 5 miles of here and a HUGE mosque 2/3 miles down the road there's no need whatsoever for them to build another one!!! The only reason they are allowed to build them anywhere is cos local authorities live in fear of being branded racist for saying no!!! Last time I checked the history and heritage of this once great nation I don't remember reading anything about Allah!!!!"

"next the high street will be full of there shops and our house prices will drop 30%, and we all have to move our kids out the schools because there forced to learn about allah"

"Got the kingston mosque right near me. They take the piss. Think they own the place."

"can these fuckers not afford to get a fuckin bus to morden???? drop me out you sandal wearing shit cunts!!!"

"If they want a mosque tell them to fuk of to there own country. We wouldn't be allowed to build a church in there country so tell them fukin talibans to fuk of home."

Another Facebook page, Ban the Worcester Park, Green Lane Mosque, includes a photo of a popular far-right poppy badge carrying the slogan "Try burning this" and features a post calling for Abu Qatada to be tortured or killed.

The National Front has demonstrated against the mosque, with veteran Nazi Richard Edmonds condeming the proposed development as "the thin edge of the alien wedge Enoch Powell warned us against". 

And a popular far-right Facebook page has just posted an appeal to its supporters to attend tomorrow evening's planning committee meeting. Predictably, this has provoked the usual stream of violent abuse, with comments calling for the building to be burned down or blown up and for worshippers to be killed.

So I think it would be fair to conclude that objections to the Worcester park mosque are not restricted to worries about traffic congestion and parking space.

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A man arrested in connection with an EDL protest against a newly-approved mosque has been fined after he admitted swearing at riot police.

Gary Donaldson, 32, had been drinking at the Chesters Pub in Chester Road in Sunderland, when he was confronted by officers with video cameras.

Sunderland Magistrates' Court heard how Donaldson screamed expletives into the camera and became aggressive towards the officer holding the device. He was one of 13 people arrested during the protest on October 6, 2012.

Representing himself at the short hearing, Donaldson, of Frederick Street, Seaham, pleaded guilty to drunk and disorderly on Friday October 26. He was fined £35, and ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge as well as £85 costs.

Around 200 people were involved in the demonstration on St Mark's Road, which saw members of far-right groups including the English Defence League and National Front clashing with anti-fascists and members of the Muslim community.

Scores of police armed with batons were called in as the disorder escalated, and a firecracker in a glass bottle was seen being thrown at officers.

Eight men arrested on suspicion of public order offences and another three arrested on suspicion of affray are on bail pending further enquires.

Sky Tyne and Wear, 27 October 2012

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Police had to be called in halfway through a planning committee meeting after far-right protesters became "abusive".

Members of the English Defence League were at the meeting of Chelmsford Council's planning committee and are said to have caused a disturbance. The incident happened shortly after councillors agreed to plans for a Waitrose supermarket, along with 39 apartments, to be built on Royal Mail's sorting office site.

Members of the EDL are against the relocation of the Islamic Community Centre, which has been on the site for 20 years. Although not contained within Waitrose's plans, a separate proposal has been made by Muslim Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat of Essex to reconstruct a four-storey centre at the rear of the site.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: "We were called to assist at the planning committee hearing after a disturbance was reported involving EDL members present in the room. We escorted them out of the meeting but no arrests were made as it was determined no offences had occurred."

Council leader Roy Whitehead said discussions are set to take place about how to avoid a similar incident in the future.

Mr Whitehead said: "Myself and the council's chief executive are going to meet up with the local police superintendent to discuss how matters like this can be dealt with. The plans themselves for Waitrose are great and I have been working with the supermarket for the past seven years to get it back into the city after it left 14 years ago."

A spokesman for the supermarket said the incident involving EDL members was "unsavoury".

However, development surveyor Grant Hobday said the company is pleased the council has given its thumbs-up to the plans. Mr Hobday said: "We will now seek to finalise our plans and once Royal Mail has achieved its ambition to relocate, we hope to start on site in spring 2014 and open in spring 2015."

About 180 jobs will be created by the supermarket.

Chelmsford Weekly News, 23 October 2012

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The massed ranks of the National Front at their anti-mosque protest in SunderlandAnti-racists saw off a National Front-organised protest in Sunderland on Saturday. The fascist National Front was protesting at Sunderland council's recent decision to grant planning permission for the construction of a new mosque in the Millfield area of the city.

Up to 150 people – local Muslims, trade unionists, Greens and socialists – responded despite less than 48 hours' notice, gathering to counter the anti-Muslim demonstration.

Anti-racists successfully challenged the fascists' plans, outnumbering them by three to one, and undermined the limited local support for the NF's message. We highlighted the NF's poisonous beliefs via chants of "Nazi scum, off our street" and banners whose slogans included "Get the Nazis out of Sunderland". After an hour and a half, the NF skulked off.

Counterfire, 12 August 2012

Rather larger numbers at the anti-fascist counter-demonstration

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Not content with getting three of its members arrested during a recent demonstration in Chelmsford, the English Defence League is returning on 18 August to continue its protest against the plan to build a so-called "mega-mosque" in the Essex city.

The EDL Essex division are publicising the event on their Facebook page. As you can see, one EDL member has responded to leftist critics of the demonstration by posting a link to a Youtube video (see above) featuring a song by the neo-Nazi band Whitelaw entitled "Kick the Reds In" (this is what passes for a witty pun in Blood & Honour circles).

Objections to the EDL's endorsement of this fascist and antisemitic video have been immediately deleted by the EDL admins, but the link itself has been allowed to remain. But then, this only confirms what we already knew about the political links of the Essex EDL leadership, doesn't it?

Essex EDL – "not racist, not violent, just no longer silent"? Actually, no. In reality a gang of Nazi-sympathising thugs who openly threaten to burn down mosques and kick their political opponents' heads in.

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The ACT Human Rights Commissioner has found a flyer opposing a mosque development in Canberra's north is unlikely to have breached the Discrimination Act.

The flyer was distributed by a group calling itself the Concerned Citizens of Canberra. It outlined a number of worries about a proposal for the mosque in Gungahlin including the social impact. The flyer raised doubts whether the mosque's proponents would be good neighbours in the community.

ACT Multicultural Affairs Minister Joy Burch declared the Government supported the mosque and referred the flyer to ACT Human Rights Commissioner Helen Watchirs.

In a decision handed down today, Dr Watchirs found the flyer was concerned with religious issues rather than race and it was also unclear whether it breached vilification provisions. Dr Watchirs said a complainant might have more success in the federal jurisdiction where there was a lower threshold to establish racial hatred.

ABC News, 2 August 2012

See also "Mosque flyer 'offensive' but not racist: Commissioner", Canberra Times, 2 August 2012

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Three men were arrested today on suspicion of committing racially aggravated public order offences at a protest staged by members of the English Defence League.

Around 30 people took part in the demonstration in Chelmsford city centre, a spokesman for Essex Police said.

A 35-year-old man from Rochester in Kent, a 19-year-old man from Dagenham, Essex, and an 18-year-old man from Yateley in Hampshire are currently in custody.

The protest started at around 2.30pm and was contained by police, who had received no prior notification of the demonstration taking place. It was concluded by 4.30pm, the spokesman said.

Press Association, 21 July 2012

Judging by the photo below (from Hope Not Hate) the figure of 30 would appear to be an exaggeration.

The protest was apparently against the plan to build a new Islamic Centre in Chelmsford. The EDL have been promoting an online petition, Stop The Proposed Mega Mosque in Chelmsford Essex UK ("We are asking people to vote NO! We like our community the way it is and do not want a forced influx of any particular demographic").

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Members of Gungahlin's evangelical community are distributing extremist material from overseas in their campaign against the construction of a mosque on The Valley Avenue.

A senior pastor at a Gungahlin evangelical church contacted The Canberra Times and supplied a video of far-right agitator Paul Weston, the chairman of the British Freedom Party. In the eight-minute video, Mr Weston says Islam was "worse than Nazism" and claimed Islamic influence in Britain would lead to civil war.

The Gungahlin pastor declined to be interviewed yesterday, but said the video had been circulated via email through associates in the community.

The pastor added that their church was not involved in the anti-mosque campaign by the "Concerned Citizens of Canberra".

In the video, Mr Weston said: "Islam in its most fundamental form is Nazism in its desire for global supremacy … In fact, Islam is even worse than Nazism".

Canberra Times, 13 July 2012

The video is an extract from a speech by Weston in Toronto in February. If you can stomach it, you can watch it here.

The British Freedom Party has been building links with co-thinkers in Australia for some time. Last November it ran an interview with the leader of the far-right Australian Protectionist Party.

Incidentally, the Canberra Times is holding a poll on the question "Are you for or against the proposed mosque at Gungahlin?" You can vote here.

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A key figure in the opposition to the Gungahlin mosque is a Christian fundamentalist activist who lives at least 15 kilometres away from the proposed site.

The secretive participants in the campaign against the mosque have consistently told media and government that they are concerned with local planning issues including traffic and noise.

But The Canberra Times has established that the spokesman for the group "Concerned Citizens of Canberra" describes himself as a pastor with Olive Tree Ministries and hosts fortnightly meetings at a prayer house in Yarralumla.

Irwin Ross, a Higgins resident who lives a 20-minute drive from the proposed mosque site, hosted last Sunday's closed meeting at Gungahlin Library, but it is unclear whether or not he organised the meeting. The meeting was held after the Concerned Citizens of Canberra distributed anonymous anti-mosque flyers to homes in the northern suburb.

A biography for Mr Ross posted on the website of Canberra's Christian radio station 1WAYFM says he has ministered in churches in Australia, the Philippines and Russia and has "a passion to teach and preach on the Hebrew roots of Christianity". Mr Ross hosts fortnightly Passover dinners for a group at the Canberra House of Prayer in Yarralumla.

The Canberra Times contacted Mr Ross yesterday and asked about his activities as a pastor of Olive Tree Ministries but Mr Ross said he did not want to comment.

Associates and acquaintances of Mr Ross in the Christian community said Mr Ross was known around Canberra's churches for his stridently pro-Israel views.

The Canberra Times attended Sunday's Concerned Citizens of Canberra meeting in Gungahlin, but was asked to leave after participants opposing the building of the mosque said media should not be present. After the meeting, one of the participants made threats of physical violence to a Canberra Times photographer.

A detailed document by the group has since emerged that instructs Gungahlin residents on how to lodge objections to the proposed mosque plans. The document asks the ACT government to take into account the long-term effect the mosque may have on social harmony, and states a mosque "seeks to dominate the area in which it is placed".

Submissions to the government in response to Canberra Muslim Community's development application closed yesterday.

"There are processes in place for people to have their say," Multicultural Affairs Minister Joy Burch said. "Everybody has a legitimate right to raise concerns about various projects, but to guise concerns about faith, religion or culture through other things such as traffic – that is not the way we do it here. To me, anything that is biased against developments based on culture or faith is unacceptable."

Canberra Muslim Community president Borhan Ahmed said the organisation had been transparent in its development plans and just wanted to be given "a fair go". He said the development application addressed planning concerns such as traffic and parking and any noise would be minimal because the mosque would not broadcast the call to prayer.

Mr Ahmed said Canberra Muslim Community was happy to meet with the Concerned Citizens of Canberra to discuss any issues they had with the development proposal.

"I would like to say to them, I don't know them, but we don't want any problem with anybody around us," he said. "We are a very peaceful community and we are prepared to have discussions with them if they are open and come to embrace us. We are always prepared to talk to people and address any concerns that they might have."

Mr Ahmed said he believed the group represented a minority of views and he had received "overwhelming" support from the Canberra community for the mosque.

Canberra Times, 7 July 2012

The Olive Tree Ministries to which Ross is attached is presumably the Australian section of this Minnesota-based Christian Zionist outfit. Its founder Jan Markell defended the killing of nine people during Israel's May 2010 attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on the grounds that this was part of "a spiritual battle between God's people and the satanic forces controlling Israel's enemies".

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A contentious leaflet, distributed by the Conservative Party, has been slammed by Labour councillors.

The leaflet, which was sent out by the Tory party this week, in a last ditch attempt for votes, highlighted the controversial issue of the Dudley Mosque, which was rejected by High Court last month and suggested the Labour Party would be in favour of it if elected.

In his winner's speech, new councillor for Gornal, Dave Branwood, condemned the election literature, saying: "The Tory party should be ashamed and embarrassed about it."

While Shaukat Ali, the new Deputy Leader of the Council, compared the Conservative Party to the EDL and BNP in his speech, saying: "It is a real sad state of affairs when you get a major party stoop so low by putting all these leaflets out, showing their desperation. We need to work together to promote Dudley as a borough."

Dudley News, 4 May 2012

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