شماره روزنامه
 

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | Volume: 10329

 View Rate : 663 #            News Code : TTime- 169680        Print Date : Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Australia Muslim school rejected

SYDNEY (BBC) -- Authorities in an Australian town have rejected proposals to allow an Islamic school to be built there.

Councilors for Camden, a small town on the outskirts of Sydney, unanimously voted against the proposed school for 1200 pupils.

The councilors said they based their decision solely on planning grounds, citing an internal report about its environmental impact.

The proposed development had met with fierce local opposition.

Camden's authorities received some 3,200 submissions from the public about the school and only 100 in favor.

Tensions reached their height last November when two pigs' heads were left on the site of the proposed school. Pork products are forbidden for consumption according to Islamic dietary laws.

Camden's mayor, Chris Patterson, stressed that the decision to reject the proposals was not made on religious or nationalistic grounds.

“It is a site issue, clearly a site issue,” Mr. Patterson said after the vote.

Town moves against school

Council meetings, which addressed the proposed development, regularly drew large and outspoken crowds.

A variety of local residents' views were aired at one such public meeting late last year and attended by over 1,000 people.

Some speakers focused solely on the environmental impact of locating an urban-scale school in such a bucolic setting.

One speaker implored the crowd to stick to planning issues, and not let the campaign be contaminated by racism or xenophobia.

The loudest cheers of the night greeted a speech from a local man in his late 70s, according to the BBC's Nick Bryant.

“Can I just say this without being racist or political?” the man said. “In 1983, in the streets of London, a parade by Muslims chanted incessantly 'If we can take London, we can take the world'. Don't let them take Camden.”

The BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney says Camden does not have a large Muslim population -- about 150 families -- so most of the pupils for the proposed school would have had to be brought in by bus from Sydney, an hour's drive away.

Andrew Wynnet of the Camden/Macarthur Residents' Group told the BBC about local concerns for the long-term demographic impact of such a development.

“The character of the town will change,” he said.


 

   Print Version     |        Back    |     Send To Friend

 



Tehran Times in PDF 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16|    Download All Page(.zip)


Search

Keyword :

 

Today  All



www.tehrantimes.com


www.tehrantimes.com
 NYTimes.com Homepage RSS Feed Add Tehran Times RSS Feeds
About Us | Feedback | Contact Us