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Nice Mayor Opposes Opening of French Riviera Mosque

CAIRO โ€“ A new mosque in French Riviera ready for inauguration since last November is facing opposition from the mayor of Nice who is set to sue the French state over it, sparking criticism from the city population.

โ€œIt is a stigmatizing approach, you point the finger at a whole community,โ€ the opposition councilor Patrick Allemand said, accusing the mayor of โ€œfeeding populismโ€, The Local.fr reported.

The โ€œEn-Nourโ€ mosque in Nice is an impressive modern construction that was finished since last November.

The downstairs hall, lit by a huge skylight, boasts an area of 350 meters squares and can accommodate almost 900 worshippers.

On the second floor there is a reading room for children, a library, and a separate prayer room for women.

Though its construction has been finalized months ago, the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi is still standing in the way of it opening.

The mayor, who represents Franceโ€™s centre-right The Republicans party, got the green light on Monday to sue the French state in a bid to block the opening of the mosque.

He has long claimed that the project was unauthorized from the beginning, which was back in 2002 before he came to power.

He also accused the owner of the mosque, Saudi Arabiaโ€™s Islamic Affairs Minister Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz, of โ€œadvocating shari`ahโ€ and wanting to โ€œdestroy all of the churches on the Arabian peninsulaโ€.

Absurd Opposition

Feiza Ben Mohamed of the Muslim Federation of the South (FMS) said that Estrosi โ€œcompletely obscuredโ€ the fact that the mosque had sent its financial records in to authorities already.

โ€œHe doesnโ€™t want the mosque because he wants to start something instead where he can stick his nose in the affairs of the Muslim faith,โ€ he told the RFI channel.

Despite of the mayorโ€™s opposition, the locals in Nice have shown their support for the mosque, with a petition in its support garnering over 2,000 signatures.

The city currently has only one small place for prayer, while worshippers are forced to spill out on the street at peak praying times.

For his part, Prefect Adolphe Colrat has already given conditional approval for the opening of the mosque.

He said the mosque โ€œdoesnโ€™t depend on any foreign influenceโ€ and called for it to be a beacon of Muslim worship in Nice and the region.