UPDATED ON:
Monday, September 22, 2008
06:25 Mecca time, 03:25 GMT
 
News Europe
Row over German mosque plan
 Leftist protesters outnumbered nationalists on Cologne's streets on Saturday [AFP]

German police have clashed with counter-demonstrators in Cologne while authorities have banned a nationalist group from staging a rally against plans to build a big mosque in the city.

At least one officer was injured in Saturday's incident.

The rally's organisers, Pro-Koeln (For Cologne), a nationalist group, had hoped to criticise plans to build a domed mosque - complete with two 177ft tall minarets - in Cologne's Ehrenfeld district.

Some of the counter-demonstrators tried to grab officers' pistols while others threw stones and firecrackers.

The injured officer was hit by a firecracker. Police said they detained about five people.

Police forced Pro-Koeln to call off the rally because there were fears that more serious violence would take place, Burkhard Rick, a police spokesman, said.

Two-day congress

Up to 3,000 policemen had been drafted in and part of the old city sealed off as authorities appealed for peaceful protests against a  two-day congress called by the Pro-Koeln (For Cologne) group.

Pro-Koeln activists oppose what they call 'Islamification' [AFP]
Pro-Koeln had hoped 1,500 people would attend Saturday's rally in the city centre to oppose the mosque and an "immigrant invasion" of Europe.

Those attending the congress, including like-minded leaders from Belgium, Austria and Italy, were protesting against "Islamification," and voicing support for Europe's "shared, thousand-year history" and "Western values and Christian traditions".

Fritz Schramma, Cologne's mayor whose city council gave the green light  for the construction of the mosques, criticised Pro-Koeln as "arsonists and racists" hiding under the cloak of a "citizens' movement" in a speech earlier on Saturday.

An estimated 120,000 Muslims live in Cologne, widely viewed as one of Germany's most tolerant and well-integrated major cities.

By midday just 30 Pro-Koeln supporters had managed to reach the rally site, a marketplace near the city centre, as thousands of counter-demonstrators blocked streets leading to the square.

Some 5,000 more counter-demonstrators attended a peaceful rally nearby.

Saturday was the second day of the Pro-Koeln conference.

Opening events on Friday were severely hampered when hundreds of largely peaceful protesters managed to prevent the group's leaders from holding a news conference in a municipal building, forcing supporters of the groups to seek refuge on a rental boat cruising the Rhine River.

Eight people were arrested for throwing stones and paint balls at the boat.

 Source: Agencies
Feedback Number of comments : 14
 
Tianxiang
Canada
21/09/2008
Disappointing
Free speech is sacred to us in the so-called West. There is no such thing as free speech if we don't allow those who have views we disagree with to voice their opinion. The behavior of the "counter-demonstrators" was reprehensible. How would they feel if they were blocked and prevented from attending their rally? Also, the article said the counter-demonstrators were largely peaceful, which is a biased way of saying there was some violence. On this day, the nationalists appeared more tolerant

j
United States
21/09/2008
mosquse protest
'bot time the greman fought for their country

Paul C
United States
21/09/2008
Headroom
These kind of protests seem bizarre to us who live on these shores. Seems a middle ground may serve to advance the interests of all. May I suggest the mosque be reset for construction elsewhere? Perhaps Venezuela?

Stuart Tootell
Thailand
22/09/2008
German Mosque
I agree with religious freedom,however I would be interested to know what the reactions would be if Christians wanted to build a church in Saudi Arabia,or many other Islamic states or Kingdoms. Sadly the less educated bigoted mullahs and indeed the less educated bigoted Christians in our midst seem to delight in stoking the fires of hatred and ignorance. Surely isn't about time people in this world managed to co-exist peacefully irrespect of religious beliefs and divides ?

A Wicaksono
Indonesia
22/09/2008
Mosque protest
I wonder whether people such as Ayub in Afganistan know that in many parts of Mid East Countries, religions which are not mentioned in Koran are forbidden. I wonder whether many muslims in this world realize that in Muslim dominated countries how difficult it is to build a place of worship of non-muslim faith. Do they also realize that in many muslim-dominated countries, a muslim who converts to other religions is punishabel by law. But if a non-muslim convert to Islam, s/he will be rewarded.

Martin Laske
Germany
21/09/2008
Colone uprising
Hello! To be honest I found your report a bit simplified. I wish you would have stated and explained the situation a bit thorough. Infact it was the whole city of Colone that was opposing the nacionalis right winged "pro-Köln" group. About 5000 regular citizens were protesting agains it, the taxi drivers did not carry the parttakers of this congress and the people of Colone, actually stepped infont of their muslim nighbours, protesting in their name for their mosqe. I wish were more such news

Ayub
Afghanistan
21/09/2008
Germans agianst mosque.
Mahatma Gandhi was right:Western civilisation might be a good idea... These atheists have no religion of their own and are opposing the building of a Mosque.What happened to democracy and a free thinking society...The west is really loosing their minds.It seems the US has given some form of drugs to the rest of the world being anti Muslim...

merle lynn
United States
22/09/2008
Islamization
Germany is very sensitive to religion. Early Muslim immigrants assimilated the newer ones have not. They are not learning the language, making ties with the neo-Nazi's and other groups that demonize Jews. This will not sit well with Al Jazzera but it is part of the problem in many areas of Europe and even the US. Many are frightened of any religion taking a political front, which is different than having a presence. Muslim extremists scare the world.

Christopher Hogg
Canada
22/09/2008
To jump on the free speech band wagon to support a "nationalistic, christian value, western civilization" is to insult the right to free speech in countries where it is really repressed by "nationalistic, religious fundamental" governing parties. Give it a break. These speeches, meetings and opinions are not new they are merely a reflection of individuals attempting to adapt to an increasingly complex world by going backwards, increasing fear, pushing hate and telling us their being critizied

Sara B
Finland
22/09/2008
answer to Stuart Tootell
You were interested to know whether Christians in the Middle-East could easily build a church on their grounds. I was in Iran and saw several big churches and synagoges, and they lived peacefully among the muslims.

aidell
Malaysia
24/09/2008
civilize
ha...ha.. sound funny. We in malaysia never have this kind of problem especially when building place of worship. we respect each other & you can do whatever you as long you don't become a threat to the majority. quite unhappy & disagree with Andrew of United Kingdom. There is nothing wrong with islam, In Malaysia, this racial or religious sentiment is at min. level. Everybody can praise their own god unlike in europe, discrimination against muslim quite rampant. is this democracy?

A Wicaksono
Indonesia
23/09/2008
response to Sara B (Finland)
You may wish to know that in most Mid-East countries, at least in Iran and Saudi Arabia, converting from Islam is punishable by law, even death penalty. Surely there are churches in Iran, but they have been there long long ago. No new churches were allowed to be built. In most mid-east countries, you can't build places of worship of other religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism. I wonder why Buddhists can build their temple in Europe without triggering protest. Maybe something wrong with Islam.

Dibby
United Kingdom
23/09/2008
Mosque Protest
To all the peeps who keep asking what would happen in Saudi or any other Islamic country in the middle east if a church was constructed...We muslims in Europe do not care, we are German, Italian, UK etc citizens..we care about what happenes in our own countries in Europe, this is where we live and this is where we will stay, so get use to it!!

Andrew
United Kingdom
24/09/2008
To Dibby
I agree. We European citizens care about what happens in our own countries. And because of this concerns, I seconded A Wicaksono's posting. Maybe there is something wrong with Islam. The constructions of Buddhist temple in some EU countries did not trigger any protest, even what was dubbed as the biggest Buddhist temple in France could be built smoothly, without any protest. The Muslims should ask themselves why the constructions of their places of worship created an uproar.

 
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