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WALTHAM FOREST: Anti mega-mosque councillor slams internet "death threat"
4:42pm Tuesday 6th November 2007
Comments (6)A COUNCILLOR fighting plans to build a massive mosque has branded a mock obituary about him on the internet as "sick".
Newham councillor and Christian People's Alliance (CPA) leader Alan Craig has repeatedly called for a public inquiry into Tablighi Jamaat, the Islamic group that wants to build a £100m mosque at Abbey Mills, Stratford, following alleged terror links.
He believes the mosque, which would be the biggest in Europe, would damage community relations because Tablighi Jamaat would foster a divisive mentality.
The controversial member for Canning Town South was alerted to a video on the YouTube website which is titled In Memory of Councillor Alan Craig.
The clip shows numerous pictures of Cllr Craig, some of which also feature his wife and daughters.
He said: "I was aghast when I saw it, It is particularly unpleasant, and if it is a joke, it is very sick.
"Putting stuff about me on the internet is one thing, but people should not be involving my family."
Cllr Craig has reported the clip to the police and he is waiting for detectives to get in touch.
He said the veiled death threat will not prevent him from carrying on with his campaign.
He said: "You cannot live in fear or intimidation and I am going to carry on doing what I am going to do, which is legitimate and democratic.
"I would ask whoever did this to take the clip down."
Cllr Craig said the pictures appear to have been taken from a number of sources, including the BBC and the CPA website, although he does not know where all of them have come from.
The video was posted by somebody calling himself Muhammad, 23, of Stevenage.
Tablighi Jamaat is working with architects to develop an outline design for the development, which may also include a school, conference centre and a library.
Any future planning application will be decided by the un-elected Thames Gateway London Partnership Quango, although Newham Council has the power to intervene.
Your Say YourEast London and West Essex Guardian Series
F Guiness, London says...
9:01pm Tue 6 Nov 07
tom, E11 says...
11:32am Wed 7 Nov 07
mr craig may or may not be a sectarian, but he didn't dream up the mega-mosque to stir up anti-muslim feeling. tablighi jamaat (who already run a mosque on the abbey mills site) have employed architects to draw up these plans. do you think the architects drew the plans for fun? sure, there's nothing concrete yet, but don't mislead people into thinking the wheels aren't turning, and that this isn't being planned.
another point worth noting - one of the key movers in TJ locally is abdul khalique, also a prominent member of Respect, more opponents of the local Labour party.
Tigs, says...
11:52am Wed 7 Nov 07
Why should there be yet another Mosque built in this country? Don't we have enough already? If you go to Bradford you can hear the priest or whatever they are classed as calling out across the land. It is like living in another country.
You can bet that they would not like other faiths to go over to their countries and start demanding to have synagogues and churches built.
My mum has always voted Labour but now I wonder if their **** licking will eventually create resentment within the original people living here. By the way that does mean born here no matter what colour or background they are.
Alan Grifffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON. E7 says...
7:25pm Wed 7 Nov 07
I refer to various groups of the UK Christian Right as sectarian, because that is my view of much of their behaviour. It's not a label I put on everyone who has an opinion different from mine.
On 20 June 2001,A Craig wrote in the Newham Recorder "Unless there are safety or technical objections, the Muslim community should be allowed to build the mosque at West Ham". Then he was right, but there were serious technical objections about pedestrian and vehicle access. The pedestrian access issues will be solved when West Ham station has a western entrance. If the site owners and their Architects can solve the vehicle access problems, what good reason would there be for refusing planning permission for a Mosque of the size proposed some years ago?
The previous Architects' model, pictured in this paper about a year ago, showed a development covering the entire site. That never came close to a planning application and it is why some of us say that the "mega-mosque" is a myth.
Why are some people working hard to get others to believe it?
Ted, Swindon says...
10:22pm Thu 8 Nov 07
If so, I wonder if Pope Bliar will be worshipping there?
Chickens will come home to roost one day!
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Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON. E7 says...
7:37pm Tue 6 Nov 07