Who's afraid of the big bad ....?

In an article titled "European mosque plans face protests", Tom Heneghan researches the building of mosques in Europe and the reactions to any future plans to do so.

Across Europe, Muslims who have long prayed in garages and old factories nowface skepticism and concern for wanting to build stately mosques to giveproud testimony to the faith and solidity of their Islamic communities.

Some critics reject them as signs of "Islamisation". Others say minaretswould scar their city's skyline. Given the role some mosques have played ascenters for terrorists, others see Muslim houses of worship as potentialsecurity threats.

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The issue hit the headlines in Britain in late July when a petition againsta "mega-mosque" next to the 2012 London Olympics site was posted on PrimeMinister Gordon Brown's Web site. It attracted more than 275,000 signaturesbefore it was taken down.

In Germany last month, there were anti-mosque protests in Cologne and Berlinand a local council voted against one in Munich. A French far-right groupvowed to sue the city of Marseille for a second time for helping build a"grand mosque".

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France, whose five million-strong Muslim minority is Europe's largest, has alonger history of mosques in its cities and many mayors provide land at lowcost for them.

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In Switzerland, two right-wing parties have launched a petition for areferendum to ban minarets on mosques there.

Italy's anti-immigration Northern League called last month for all mosquesthere to be closed for security checks. In December 2006, protesters left asevered pig's head outside a mosque being built in the Tuscan town of Colledi Val d'Elsa.

Concern about Islam has deep roots in some countries. In Greece, which livedfor four centuries under Ottoman Turkish rule, Muslims only got their firstpurpose-built mosque in Athens in June. Plans for a larger one are still on hold.

In Spain, a bastion of Islamic culture for eight centuries until 1492,Catholic leaders nervously turned down a request from Muslims to pray inCordoba Cathedral, originally a mosque.