DAR AL HARB - U.K.: "ENGLISH ROSE" FIGHTS AGAINST THE "ISLAMIZATION OF THIS COUNTRY" (ENGLAND)

No 10 site in mosque petition row

More than 255,000 people have signed a petition on the Downing Street website against any plans to build Britain's biggest mosque in East London.

The petition, currently the most popular on the No 10 site, calls for the "mega mosque" to be scrapped as it will "cause terrible violence".

But London mayor Ken Livingstone said it was part of a "vicious" campaign to spread untruths about the scheme.

No 10 is expected to respond when the petition closes on Wednesday.

It has resisted calls to remove the petition from its site, amid claims racist language had to be removed from the list of signatories.

The row centres on plans by Tablighi Jamaat to build a 12,000 capacity mosque on land in West Ham.

Downing Street has said any planning decision will be down to the local authority but Newham Council is not expecting to receive a planning application for a mosque "in the near future".

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London mayor denounces 'vicious' campaign against ficticious mosque

LONDON: London's mayor on Tuesday criticized what he called a vicious campaign posted on the British prime minister's Web site objecting to a plan to build a large mosque, when no such plan exists.

Nearly 300,000 names appear on a petition on Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Web site demanding officials abolish the alleged plans to build a large mosque in Newham, east London, where much of the 2012 Olympics will take place.

The petition says such a mosque would cause "terrible violence and suffering."

Mayor Ken Livingstone, Brown's office and Newham local council have all denied the rumor.

"The particularly vicious nature of the campaign against a possible Muslim place of worship in East London should be condemned by all of those who support the long established right of freedom of religion in this country," Livingstone said in a statement.

"And all the more so as it is based on information which has long been established to be factually untrue," he said.

The Downing Street Web site allows anyone to address and deliver an e-petition directly to the prime minister. British citizens can sign the petition by entering their name and email address into the Web page.

The 1990 Trust, which represents black groups in Britain, said it had identified the person who initiated the petition as Jill Barham, author of a blog called "English Rose." The blog says it is dedicated to opposing Brown's Labour government and "the Islamization of this country."
The petition will continue to accept names until Wednesday.

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Pertinent Links:

1) No 10 site in mosque petition row

2) London mayor denounces 'vicious' campaign against ficticious mosque