Friday, December 29, 2006

If you build it, they will come... and keep on coming... And they'll never leave.

The Muslims Are Coming!
By Michael Scott Moore and Jochen-Martin Gutsch in Berlin
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A citizens' group in Berlin turned out this week for a candlelight vigil to protest plans for a new mosque in their neighborhood. It will be the first to be built in the former East Berlin, where almost no Muslims live -- but no one can quite explain why it shouldn't be there.
A member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Berlin stands in front of a sign that reads, "There is no God but Allah." The community has just won approval for a new mosque in an eastern district of the German capital.
At the end of a rundown suburban street lined with bare trees and flaking apartment facades, a small group of people hold candles or colored Glo-sticks. A few hold signs -- "Democracy yes! Caliphate no!" -- and some carry German flags.
"The mosque is supposed to go up right here," says Günter Bronner, a blustery white-haired man with glasses pushed up on his forehead who's lived in the neighborhood for 42 years. He points to a drab piece of land at the end of the street where a defunct sauerkraut factory stands. "They want to have a minaret with a muezzin who gives the call to prayer five times a day. Can you imagine? Five times a day over our rooftops."
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http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,456751,00.html

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