Marseille breaks deadlock over Great Mosque (Gigantic mosque for the French)

MARSEILLE, France, July 6, 2006 (AFP) - The French city of Marseille on Thursday broke a decades-long deadlock over the construction of a Great Mosque in the Mediterranean port, where Muslims make up a quarter of the population.

In a ceremony attended by Muslim, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Buddhist leaders, the centre-right mayor of Marseille Jean-Claude Gaudin allocated a plot of land for the mosque, paving the way for the project to begin.

"We wanted to perform this act of justice towards our Muslim compatriots in Marseille, to allow them to build a place of worship like all the other major religions in Marseille," said Gaudin.

such as Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg, which either have or plan to build Great Mosques, he said.

While Marseille's Muslim community is estimated at around 200,000 people - not all of whom practise their religion - the city's 62 places of worship provide room for only around 13,000 faithful.

Under an agreement to be finalised on July 17, Marseille will make available an 8,000 square-metre (two acre) plot of land in the north of the city to the association in charge of the project, on a 99-year lease.

The plot of land, the site of a former slaughterhouse, is currently used by a company of opera costume designers.

The 2,500-square-metre mosque - to be adapted from the existing buildings in a simple, modern style - will provide room for up to 5,000 faithful, according to architect Abdelouahab Khelif.

Construction work is not expected to start for several years however, since the Muslim community has yet to start collecting the eight to 10 million EUR (10 to 13 million dollars) needed for the project.

The money must come from private donations since the French government cannot finance places of worship under laws on the separation of church and state.

"It is going to take time," said Abdou Diarra, treasurer of the association in charge of the mosque construction work.

Foreign contributions will be tightly monitored and limited to 20 or 30 percent of the total, in order to prevent any single country asserting too much influence over the project, he said.

The first plans for a great mosque in Marseille go back to the 1930s, but the project repeatedly floundered due to divisions within the city's Muslim community, as well as a degree of resistance from the local population.

Marseille city hall finally decided to break the deadlock and provide the land for the project after most - although not quite all - of the city's Muslim groups and trends rallied around the project.

The French city of Marseille on Thursday broke a decades-long deadlock over the construction of a Great Mosque in the Mediterranean port, where Muslims make up a quarter of the population.

A quarter of the population? Yikes. I guess that soon Angel City'll have to change their lyrics. One more time, for old time's sake, then:

Marseilles

Bought me a box of french cigars
Bought me a black beret
Get my french from a girl next door
Teaching me night and day
Got me thinking `bout the south of France
Vis-a-vis vous
Pack my suitcase, take a chance
Got nothing to lose
Gimme the sound of the rolling dice
Gimme a whiskey, don't think twice
Deal me the card that takes my blues away
Take me away to Marseilles
Fast train, jet plane, money to burn
Don't ask the reason why
Drinkin' champagne, playin' it cool
Don't even have to try, baby
Gimme the sound of the rolling dice
Gimme a whiskey, don't think twice
Deal me the card that takes my blues away
Take me away to Marseilles

You can be sure the local people were not consulted, because many North Africans want NOTHING to do with mosques and islam, they moved to France to get away from that "stuff". And look at this:
"While Marseille's Muslim community is estimated at around 200,000 people - not all of whom practise their religion - the city's 62 places of worship provide room for only around 13,000 faithful"

So now they're going to have 63 mosques for 13,000. Just so that creep Gaudin can look like a bigshot. Jeez France is annoying sometimes. I knew one French guy, a bigshot editor, who told me that we should transform French churches into mosques!! I informed him that most churches here in France have floor plans in the form of a cross, he just looked at me, like HUH. What a dumbass! And no, he wasn't jewish. Just a lib/socialist/whatever. God, France ticks me off. Later

"In a ceremony attended by Muslim, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Buddhist leaders, the centre-right mayor of Marseille Jean-Claude Gaudin allocated a plot of land for the mosque, paving the way for the project to begin.

Fools can't see the reflection in the sword that will someday lop of their heads if all goes according to plan!

Can't wait to see how high the minarets are. I could never live in a neighborhood dominated by minarets

LOL. Me, neither. But I have a feeling we'll be eating those words when we hear the tinny electronic call to prayer 5 times a day, kind of sounding like a subway operator... Bwa-bwa bwa bwa...

Oh when will the French learn? Have they learned nothing from the chaos in Denmark, the Netherlands, even Belgium? Brigitte Bardot and others are trying desperately to warn them. Will they finally 'get it' when they have to cover their heads when walking past the mosque to not offend worshippers? Or maybe when the glorious ham curing enterprises 'offend' that nearby mosque and their existence is challenged? Or maybe when the statues adorning the Notre Dame are ordered cover so as not to offend. Maybe when the vineyards are bought out (or worse) because their product is deemed sinful. It's a religion that has shown itself time and time again to have not the tiniest inkling of interest in peaceably co-existing with it's new neighbors, even when it's the new guy. It is a religion that despises much of what traditional French culture espouses, and yet the French bend over backwards to accommodate it, and avoid offending it. Putting up a mosque in Marseilles is one thing, but the kowtowing and self-hating by the French in their own country will bite them in the butt one day.

Let them build a nice big one France, for one day all the laws that govern your lives will be issued from this building....assuming they don't want to build a bigger one in Paris when the time comes.

When the time comes, they won't have to. There's already one built for their purpose. It's called Notre Dame Cathedral!

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