Paris mayor authorizes construction of new mosque

The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, has issued a construction license for a second mosque in Paris, says a statement which recalls that the "Islamic Cultural Association" has been trying for ten years to build a mosque on the site.

Sources close to the Paris town council say the new worshipping site will be located, in Rue de Tanger (northeastern Paris) where Muslims used to pray in a 17 year-old fabric warehouse.

The new mosque will be a 5,000 square-meter compound, consisting of a building, conference rooms, administrative offices and a Moorish-styled patio, a 1,500 square meter hall covered with two domes to accommodate 2,000 persons performing prayers.

During his electoral campaign for the position of Paris mayor, Delanoe had supported the mosque project.

The first and largest mosque of Paris was built some 80 years ago. Other worshipping sites for Muslims in France are often built in precarious and inappropriate premises.