London: An extremist Islamist leader, who is campaigning to introduce sharia courts in the UK, seeks to turn Buckingham Palace into a mosque, the latest news report said on Thursday.
Days before a potentially incendiary rally in central London to demand the introduction of sharia courts in Britain, Anjem Choudary claims to have uncovered historical evidence which challenges the right of Queen Elizabeth II to live at the royal palace.
Choudary, the right-hand man of exiled Islamist cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, demanded the palace be renamed Buckingham Masjid, and the Mall, which approaches the palace, would become Masjid Road, the Daily Express newspaper reported today.
The protest on Saturday outside the British Parliament, less than a mile from Buckingham Palace, has raise concerns over security, the report said.
"There is a spark that has ignited and its flame has become unstoppable," Choudary wrote on the Islam4UK website.
"We find ourselves in the year 2009, waiting for Rome to fall, waiting for the White House to fall and indeed waiting for Buckingham Palace to fall," he was quoted as saying by the British tabloid.
Choudary said once the sharia was established the Queen’s official residence in London would have a dome fitted and a tannoy system to call followers to prayer.
The Islam4UK movement is made up of leading members of the banned radical al-Muhajiroun group which was once led by Choudary. Around 15 percent of people convicted in the UK of terrorism-related offences in the last decade were either members of the group or had links to it, the report claimed.
Bureau Report
