28 March 2010
Dozens of people rallied Saturday in Warsaw to protest plans by the country's Muslim community to build a second mosque in the city.
Poland's Muslim population is small, estimated at around 40,000, and such protests are unusual. The event offered evidence that anxieties gripping the rest of Europe are now also taking root in this former communist country, as well.
The emotional rally drew a small group of counter-protesters. Police forming a barrier between the two sides, which had gathered at the mosque's construction site in an outlying Warsaw neighborhood.
The protesters chanted "Radical Islam, no thanks" and held up banners saying "Stop the Radicals" and "Political Islam is threat to Europe."
The counter-protesters carried banners reading "Warsaw is for everybody" and "Stop Islamophobia."
The anti-mosque protesters said they feared that radical Muslims would use the mosque to gain a foothold in Polish society. They were particularly disturbed by rumors that Saudi money is funding it -- a claim that could not be immediately confirmed.
"We oppose a mosque built with Saudi money when it's illegal to have a Bible or cross in Saudi Arabia," said Rafal Zak, a 31 -year-old real estate agent.
The Future of Europe Association claims that the organization behind the mosque, the Polish League of Muslims, has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Local Muslims deny this. "The Polish League of Muslims is an organisation founded by Polish citizens and is officially registered," Boguslaw Zadorski, director of the Ibn Khaldun Institute in Warsaw and lecturer at Collegium Civitas, has stated, adding that "no-one has ever accused the organisation of breaking Polish law, and saying that the League is connected with the Muslim Brotherhood is tantamount to slander."
The mosque is being legally constructed according to planning permission granted by Warsaw City Council. “All the decisions and agreements for this investment were completed long ago,” Tomasz Andryszczyk from the Council has commented, adding that “it would be a shame if this building is surrounded by problems, especially as it is of a religious character.”
Poland's tiny Muslim population includes not only Tatars, an ethnic group that settled in Poland centuries ago, but also a growing number of students and businessmen from Arab countries. Several protesters said they valued the Tatars, who are moderate, integrated and hard to distinguish from other Poles, and oppose only extreme Islam.
Sources:
Vanessa Gera, "Dozens rally in Warsaw to protest plans for mosque" Associated Press March 27, 2010
"Anti-mosque demos take place in Warsaw" Polskie Radio March 27, 2010
Dozens of people rallied Saturday in Warsaw to protest plans by the country's Muslim community to build a second mosque in the city.
Poland's Muslim population is small, estimated at around 40,000, and such protests are unusual. The event offered evidence that anxieties gripping the rest of Europe are now also taking root in this former communist country, as well.
The emotional rally drew a small group of counter-protesters. Police forming a barrier between the two sides, which had gathered at the mosque's construction site in an outlying Warsaw neighborhood.
The protesters chanted "Radical Islam, no thanks" and held up banners saying "Stop the Radicals" and "Political Islam is threat to Europe."
The counter-protesters carried banners reading "Warsaw is for everybody" and "Stop Islamophobia."
The anti-mosque protesters said they feared that radical Muslims would use the mosque to gain a foothold in Polish society. They were particularly disturbed by rumors that Saudi money is funding it -- a claim that could not be immediately confirmed.
"We oppose a mosque built with Saudi money when it's illegal to have a Bible or cross in Saudi Arabia," said Rafal Zak, a 31 -year-old real estate agent.
The Future of Europe Association claims that the organization behind the mosque, the Polish League of Muslims, has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Local Muslims deny this. "The Polish League of Muslims is an organisation founded by Polish citizens and is officially registered," Boguslaw Zadorski, director of the Ibn Khaldun Institute in Warsaw and lecturer at Collegium Civitas, has stated, adding that "no-one has ever accused the organisation of breaking Polish law, and saying that the League is connected with the Muslim Brotherhood is tantamount to slander."
The mosque is being legally constructed according to planning permission granted by Warsaw City Council. “All the decisions and agreements for this investment were completed long ago,” Tomasz Andryszczyk from the Council has commented, adding that “it would be a shame if this building is surrounded by problems, especially as it is of a religious character.”
Poland's tiny Muslim population includes not only Tatars, an ethnic group that settled in Poland centuries ago, but also a growing number of students and businessmen from Arab countries. Several protesters said they valued the Tatars, who are moderate, integrated and hard to distinguish from other Poles, and oppose only extreme Islam.
Sources:
Vanessa Gera, "Dozens rally in Warsaw to protest plans for mosque" Associated Press March 27, 2010
"Anti-mosque demos take place in Warsaw" Polskie Radio March 27, 2010
