Both Vlad and Baron Bodissey have a good take on the happenings there, any type of communal/societal push back is welcome.
UPDATE: GOV has another post on this as well.
A second look at the Bulgarian mosque protest.
Thanks to RR and GoV’s hard work, we have another perspective on the protest that took place on Feb. 14 2014.
First, what it was about.
There is a mosque in Karlovo that had been under state control for a century had been handed back to Muslim control. The march took place in another city called Plovdiv, where the protesters took out their frustration on a mosque there.
The mosque that upset them has a close proximity to a Bulgarian hero named Vasil Levski who was a Bulgarian patriot who fought for the freedom of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke. He and another well known Bulgarian hero of resistance to Islamic dominance, Hristo Botev, were tortured to death by the Turks.
One has to wonder why the muslims wanted control of this mosque back. I can’t help but notice that recently, muslims have been claiming or building major mosques specifically at sites that are significant to Europe’s repulsion of Islamic invasion in the past, or are near centers of power now.
A few examples are:
The Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque
These mosques were built in Jerusalem specifically within the ancient walls of the most sacred site to Jewish people on earth. There is no way that Jews could rebuild their ancient temple known to most of us as, ‘The Wailing Wall”, referring to the one remaining part of the first Jewish house of worship, without knocking down these two islamic beachheads.
For many years, muslims used the Western wall as a urinal.
Tours will have its Grand Mosque when the 5 million euros necessary for its financing have been found – in 3 years, at the earliest. A quarter of the sum has already been collected. The land was purchased by the Paris Mosque, subsidized by Algeria. On November 29, 2008, amidst great ceremony, the first stone was laid. In 732, a Muslim army was defeated outside the city of Tours by Charles Martel and the Franks. The Battle of Tours was one of the most decisive battles in history since it stopped the Islamization of Europe (at least for 13 centuries). Adolf Hitler bitterly regretted that the Muslims had not won in Tours.
(Lots has been written about this one)
And there are many many more Im sure, not the least of which is the gargantumosque to be built to coincide with the Olympics in the UK. I am unaware of any other religion that feels a need to establish its grandiosity in that fashion.
So this may help to explain a touch of the reasons why the Bulgarians are so upset. Add to that, this excellent article at Gates of Vienna and it gets pretty clear.
