Helsingør council bans construction of new mosque

A broad majority of Helsingør's city council has voted to ban construction of a new mosque, blocking Helsingør Islamic Congregation's plan for a 1,200-square-metre building beside the municipality's existing mosque.

The Conservatives, Social Democrats, Socialist People's Party, Denmark Democrats, Liberal Alliance, Danish People's Party and Venstre backed the ban with 20 seats. The Radicals, Moderates and Red-Green Alliance voted against it.

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It is about responsible urban planning

The ban rests on traffic challenges already associated with the existing mosque, the parties said. They argued that an expansion would make those problems worse. The current mosque, located on Engvænget, covers 400 square metres and does not have enough room for everyone, including worshippers attending Friday prayers, according to the congregation's leadership.

Janus Kyhl of the Conservatives said the party struggled to see how the site could accommodate the desired expansion. "It is about responsible urban planning," he said, according to Helsingør Dagblad. Socialist People's Party member Marianne Victor Hansen said the local plan was clearly inadequate, while stressing that her party would have taken the same position on any construction project.

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But perhaps the case is not so much about parking, but about some people believing that Muslims in the municipality should not have a modern place to practice their religion

Red-Green Alliance councillor Malthe Jacobsen disagreed. He said the case relied on isolated observations about traffic and parking and argued that the decision might have a different underlying basis. "But perhaps the case is not so much about parking, but about some people believing that Muslims in the municipality should not have a modern place to practice their religion," he told Helsingør Dagblad.

The Dikev Foundation received the decision with protests and threats of a major compensation claim. Its lawyer had previously warned that a ban would be met with "a compensation claim amounting to a not insignificant sum in the millions." The existing mosque is Helsingør's only official mosque. The municipality is estimated to have 2,500 Muslims.

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a compensation claim amounting to a not insignificant sum in the millions