Mosque not wanted

last updated 8 January 2015

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Centrist and right-wing parties succeeded this week in temporarily blocking the building of the first mosque in the Slovenian capital. The issue will be put to a national referendum. Many opponents of the proposed construction cited fears of a growth in Islamic fundamentalism. One member of the moderate Slovene People’s Party said a mosque would serve as a “drug market and terrorist breeding ground.” Slovenia is the only country in Eastern Europe that does not have a single mosque, even though it is home to some 50,000 Muslims. Most Slovenes are Catholic.