From AFP, who comments: “‘Master said because the group were Muslims, it would be impossible to prevent them from entering the mosque.’ This is a perfect metaphor for the general Muslim inability to draw the line against anything bad in Islam, from suicide bombings to Sharia penalties for apostasy to (in this case) closing the mosque Rice was to have visited to disrupting protestors.”
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart Jack Straw have cancelled plans to visit a mosque in England, officials said, amid opposition from anti-war protesters.
The mosque in Straw’s constituency in Blackburn, withdrew its invitation for security reasons after opponents of Friday’s planned visit threatened to “invade” the building, mosque official Ibrahim Master said.
“The visit wasn’t cancelled because we don’t like Condoleezza Rice,” said Master, a member of the mosque’s governing committee. “What these people had threatened to do was invade the mosque during dawn prayers.”
He said the Masjide Al Hidayah mosque’s governing committee met Wednesday night with a group of Muslims which included members of the “Stop the War Coalition,” which is sharply opposed to the US-led war in Iraq.
He said the group threatened to protest inside the mosque when the two top diplomats were inside.
“It would have compromised the safety of the visiting dignitaries,” he said.
Master said because the group were Muslims, it would be impossible to prevent them from entering the mosque.