New mosque planned for Cologne

18 months ago: Catholic priest Franz Meurer holds a collection basket as he stands 12 March 2007 in front of his St. Theodor church in Cologne, western Germany. Meurer announced that he wants to donate his church's Sunday collection to the construction of a mosque



22 August 2007

The new Mosque with room for 2000 of the faithful is a controversial project at Cologne's Ehrenfeld district



On Muslim holidays, hundreds of faithful hoping to pray at the city's Ditib Mosque are forced to spread their prayer rugs in a nearby parking lot and follow the service on loudspeakers. The mosque only holds 600 people. Yet plans to replace the flat-roofed storefront mosque with a new house of worship, complete with dome and two 54-meter-tall (177-feet-tall) minarets, have triggered an angry response from right-wing groups and, most recently, Cologne's Roman Catholic Archbishop.

"Pro Cologne" protests against construction of mosque

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33 months ago:



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14 months ago: Signs protesting against the construction of a mosque are posted along a motorway near the Tuscan town of Colle diVal d'Elsa in this January 9, 2007 file photo. The banners read (L-R): "The park is for everyone but the mosque is not", "Yes for integration but no to occupation", "No to the mosque in the park"...



14 months ago: Protestors display a banner out of a window, which reads: "Poor little Germans", in front of a right wing demonstration against the construction of a huge new mosque in the Cologne suburb of Ehrenfeld in this June 16, 2007 file photo.




13 months ago: Members of the organisation 'Pro Cologne' protest against the plans to build a new Mosque



1 month ago: Members of the rightist citizens' initiative "Pro Cologne" protest against the construction of a mosque on August 28, 2008 in front of the city hall in Cologne, western Germany. The new Mosque with room for 2000 of the faithful is planned to be built in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne.