Police watched over a council planning meeting where emotions ran high over a proposal to create a Muslim-run community and welfare centre.

Officers attended plans panel north and east at Leeds City Council where members unanimously voted to give the go-ahead to convert the derelict Lingfield pub in Moortown.

Applicants UKIM, UK Islamic Mission, who bought the site, want to create a public gym, IT suite, library, training facilities and a prayer room for up to 70 worshippers.

More than 400 letters of objection were received over traffic, congestion and noise concerns. Many also expressed fears the centre would be used exclusively by the Islamic community. The night before the planning meeting the words "a mosque" were repeatedly daubed on the exterior of the forlorn building.

In a deputation to the panel, Gavin Boby, of the Law and Freedom Foundation, said he spoke against the plan on behalf of the Lingfield community: "Community use is laughable. It is a lie. It is a facility for a specific sector alone. You will find it will only be used by one sector."

Asked how many local people he knew would use the centre, Mohammed Arif of UKIM, said five households. He added that all facilities, including the "thorn in everyone's side", the prayer room, would be open to everyone.

The proposed community centre is subject to 21 restrictions, including opening hours from 8.30am to 10.30pm, or midnight during the month of Ramadan when visitor numbers can be no more than 65. The building cannot be used for weddings and must be open to community use.

Mr Arif said: "I am relieved by the result. We are in no mad rush and need to forge links with the community first."

Yorkshire Evening Post, 22 February 2013

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It became obvious that the rebels in Syria made significant advances, although their leaders keep saying that they lack the weaponry needed to launch a massive attack on the regime’s main points of power.  On the other side, Russian officials admitted that we may see the rebels realizing victory in Syria, and an evacuation plan was set for the Russian citizens in the country.

The Nato chief expects that Bashar Al Assad’s regime will collapse soon, knowing that Syria is in war since 21 months. The Syrian rebels are attempting to conquer Damascus from all sides, and reports say that weapons are being transferred to the rebels from different sides, especially from Turkey.

On the military side, the rebels should conquer Damascus to win. If the regime lost its control on the capital, we should hear about Bashar Al Assad and his regime flying to different countries. This shouldn’t be easy at all, especially with fears spreading from Syria’s chemical weapons that can turn the situation upside down.

Moreover, none of the Arab League leaders or the United Nations, managed to convince President Al Assad to step down, especially with most of Arab leaders being busy with Arab spring revolutions, while the UN choose Al Ibrahimy to be its representative to Syria, and he is clearly unable to reach any results on the ground. China and Russia also refuse to pressure Bashar Al Assad to step down, but Russia seems to be expecting a dramatic end for the current Syrian regime.

We should also mention the role or Taliban in Syria, as reports say that thousands of Taliban members are now in Syria and fighting with the rebels. Equipment and weapons were also transferred inside Syria to face the regime and to make Taliban members more effective in Syria. Hence, we can say that Bashar Al Assad is facing more than one enemy at the current stage, which is making his situation very weak.

Two hundred Syrian citizens were killed today in different governorates. We should admit that a number of citizens were killed by the regime, while the rest were killed by the rebels who should be seeking the freedom of the people. In all cases, civilians are always the biggest loser in any war. Reports say that two thousand Syrian refugees entered the Turkish boarders today, after they struggled for days to find safety for their kids and for themselves.

It is not expected to see the end of Al Assad’s regime coming soon, and no one can expect that the rebels are going to surrender. The war in Syria will continue in the coming months, and we shall see the regime using its chemical weapons against the rebels, but this can be the last military move for Bashar Al Assad. What spreads pessimism is that all solutions are frozen; the war solution and the political solution; however, progress can be seen in case America, Russia and China started to add more pressure on the Syrian regime.

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Plans to build Britain's biggest place of worship – a "monolithic, overly dominant and incongruous" mosque in east London – are set to be thrown out despite 25,000 letters in favour.

The mosque, which could take 12,000 people – four times as many as St Paul's Cathedral – would be as big as Battersea power station and become the HQ of Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat. However, officers for Newham council recommend the plan is refused.

The sect, to which the July 7 bombers and shoe bomber Richard Reid have been linked, could now be forced to leave the Abbey Mills site altogether in Canning Road, near the Olympic Park, after a 13-year battle.

Alan Craig, campaign director of MegaMosque No Thanks and a former Newham councillor, said: "Now it's up to the planning committee to follow the recommendation to reject. The building would be ugly, it would add nothing to the area and we have huge concerns about the group behind it."

Tablighi Jamaat first submitted plans to use the site, which has several prefab buildings, in 1999, arousing intense opposition from the start. In 2001, it agreed worship there would be on a temporary basis only, but when permission expired in 2006 the group continued to use the site.

In 2010, the council issued an enforcement notice but Tablighi Jamaat won its appeal last year and more than 5,000 people a week now worship at the site. The giant new mosque would have 40ft minarets, a visitors centre, a library and a 300-space car park.

The council's special strategic development committee meets next Wednesday to decide. The planning office received 3,000 letters opposing the scheme. Only one per cent of the 25,000 letters of support were from people living in the local consultation area.

Critics claim Tablighi Jamaat preaches "separation and segregation". The group maintains its main objective is peaceful missionary work.

The Anjuman-E-Islahul-Muslimeen of London UK Trust, Tablighi Jamaat's charitable trust and the site's owner, said it will appeal if the plan is thrown out. Newham council said: "Officers have made a recommendation for refusal, which will be considered.

"Our planning policies promote the development of the Abbey Mills site for a mix of residential, employment and community uses, to help create a new local centre near West Ham station and regenerate the area. It is not considered this application is consistent with these policies.

"There are also concerns about the size of the proposed buildings and impact on parking and traffic."

Evening Standard, 29 November 2012

See also "Newham council officers recommend so-called West Ham mega mosque is rejected", Newham Recorder, 28 November 2012

Update:  Needless to say, the far right can scarcely restrain their joy at the news. Alan Craig must be so proud.

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A new school headscarf is set to be introduced following pressure from pupils. Pleckgate High School, Blackburn, saw girls rebel after bringing in a uniform hijab, complaining it was ill-fitting or against their Islamic principles.

The school began working with a group of girls on a new design which will become uniform policy after the half-term holiday. Headteacher Cherry Ridgway said: "All the girls have behaved well throughout the process and parents have been very supportive."

The school decided to only include the girls who found the scarf uncomfortable in the redesign.

Mariyah Mahmud, 15, said: "I don't think there will be any more problems over the headscarf now. They talked to us and let us have our say and now all the girls are happy. Now that there is no issue with the length of it around the neck I don't think anyone will complain."

The new headscarf will be longer than the two designs which were rejected and will bear the school emblem on the front. Ms Ridgway said: "One or two girls said they would prefer it not to have the school logo but, as the longer design covers the tie, it is important that this carries the logo as it is part of the uniform."

The pupils who refused to wear the headscarf because it was too small have been allowed to sport their own choice of plain hijab in the meantime.

Lancashire Telegraph, 25 October 2012

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An anti-Islam far-right group wants to stage a Berlin screening of the provocative anti-Islamic film that sparked violent protests across the Muslim world, a report said.

"For us, it's a question of art and freedom of expression," Manfred Rouhs, head of the small Pro Deutschland group told Der Spiegel magazine.

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said he would use every legal means at his disposal to stop them. "Such groups and organisations only want to provoke Germany's Muslims," he said, accusing them of recklessly pouring oil on the fire.

Pro Deutschland is known for its provocative demonstrations. Last month about 50 of its activists staged demonstrations outside three Berlin mosques, in action they said was aimed at Islamist extremists. This followed a previous demonstration in Cologne which successfully provoked extremist Salafist Muslims into violence against the police.

They brandished copies of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked violent reactions across the world when they were first published in a Danish newspaper.

Indeed Der Spiegel said at least part of the reason the German embassy was targeted in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Friday was because of the Pro Deutschland demonstrations.

The Local, 16 September 2012

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The imam and worshipers at a new Tennessee mosque that hosted its first prayers on Friday after fighting for two years to open said they forgive those who have been enemies of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.

"Love your neighbor is a concept in every religion," Imam Ossama Bahloul told more than 200 men and women in attendance during his sermon in the mosque that replaces one where the congregation worshiped for 30 years.

To those who opposed the mosque, Bahloul said, "We forgive you all and we welcome you to our facility."

Opponents of the mosque about 30 miles south of Nashville sued to stop it from opening, claiming that not enough notice had been given before a building permit was issued. Residents opposed to the mosque have made allegations that Islam was not a faith protected by the Constitution, and that the mosque sought to impose Islamic law, or Sharia, in the U.S. legal system.

Opposition to the mosque also became an unlikely issue in a Tennessee Republican Congressional primary, with the challenger complaining that freshman Representative Diane Black, who later went on to win the primary, had not been forceful enough in her opposition to the mosque.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has characterized the campaign against the mosque as a "viciously anti-Muslim groundswell" that included accusations of treason and disloyalty along with insinuations that Muslims were predisposed to violence.

Bahloul addressed opponents' allegations in his sermon, saying that the new facility was simply a place for people to pray and children to play. And he said his congregation does abide by the U.S. Constitution.

"You can be a good Muslim and a good American," he said.

Despite the opposition, the mosque was finally able to open this week, in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, and ahead of the Eid al-Fitr feasting holiday that marks Ramadan's end.

The congregation had expected protesters on Friday, but only one showed up. Dan J. Qualls, a Murfreesboro resident who works at a nearby factory, said he felt compelled to carry a message to those at the gleaming new mosque. "Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven," he said. "I'm here to promise that."

Essam Fathy, chairman of the mosque board, said that the center's opening is "a dream come true."

"We hope the people will get to know the real us," Fathy said.

Reuters, 10 August 2012

See also "Islamic Center Imam asks for 'day of forgiveness' as new mosque opens", Daily News Journal, 10 August 2012

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In court filings this week, United States Department of Justice attorneys conclude the city of Alpharetta may have discriminated against a mosque by denying its plans to expand.

The Islamic Center of North Fulton wants to tear down its existing facility to build a much larger one on its Rucker Road property.

"They're in a very inadequate facility," attorney Doug Dillard told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik. "They don't have adequate facilities for them to bathe properly before they worship, to pray properly, for them to listen to the imam."

In 2010, the city voted down the center's plans, in part, because of a supposed agreement the center made with neighbors never to expand beyond its current facility. In January, U.S. District Judge Owen Forrester ruled he found no such agreement ever existed but still sided with the city, ruling the mosque didn't show the denial put a substantial burden on its members.

On Tuesday, DOJ attorneys filed a "friend of the court" brief, calling into question Forrester's decision. "The district court applied an erroneous legal standard in granting the city's summary judgment motion," the brief said. "The court should have asked instead whether the denial of the permit ... actually and substantially inhibits the center's religious exercise, rather than merely inconveniencing it."

Attorneys also wrote that the evidence suggests the city discriminated against the mosque. "The fact that the city's own community development staff found that the proposed mosque will have no greater effect on the surrounding area than many churches located nearby ... is sufficient to raise a reasonable inference of discrimination," the brief said.

WSB Atlanta, 14 June 2012

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