An online support group for the Buchanan mosque has been raised in response to Reclaim Australia’s anti-mosque movement.
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Earlier this month the controversial anti-Islam group, Reclaim Australia, announced it would lobby against the Newcastle Muslim Association’s plans to build a mosque in the Hunter.
The group claimed at least 300 of its members were Cessnock residents who would be directly affected by the development.
Now a counter-protest group has popped up in support of the mosque and the right of all people to have religious freedom, but again there are questions around the involvement of Cessnock residents.
The Rally Against Racism group is run out of Newcastle and plans to hold a counter rally on the same day as Reclaim Australia’s protest rally.
“We were sick of the extreme racism,” group spokeswoman Phillipa Parsons said.
“Reclaim Australia has infiltrated the Cessnock community to incite fear about something that has not even been submitted to council yet.
“We are not so much a pro-mosque group, but we support the right to freedom of religion.”
Rally Against Racism has more than 700 people in its online group, but Ms Parsons could not confirm how many were Cessnock residents.
She did confirm that prominent Cessnock residents would speak publicly on behalf of the group at a counter rally later this month.
“It will be peaceful and non-confrontational,” she said.
In October the Newcastle Muslim Association announced plans to build a mosque at Buchanan, but no plans have been lodged with Cessnock City Council to date.
The proposed development includes a prayer space and small funeral home to be built on a rural property on Buchanan Road.
The design does not include the traditional minarets and the association said there would be no call to prayer.
The prayer space is expected the attract 200 people on Fridays between noon and 3pm, and this would increase to about 450 people during annual religious festivals.