Members of Bristol's Muslim community say they are outraged after a controversial billboard was put up close to a city mosque. Community and religious leaders have demanded the advertisement, with its photo of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden next to the words 'Go Get 'Em', be taken down immediately. It is just around the corner from the Bangladeshi Shahjalal Jamia Mosque, in Stapleton Road, near the M32 Eastville roundabout. Advertising a new 15-rated PlayStation2 computer game 'America's 10 Most Wanted', Muslims who live and work in the area say it's "insensitive and undiplomatic". Abdul Wahab, a trustee of the mosque and the founder chairman of the city's Bangladesh Association, said it could increase racial tension in the area.
| Though not nearly as much as a bunch of turbans doing a Guy Fawkes imitation is someday going to... |
He said: "What if someone was to read 'Go Get 'Em' as meaning go and attack the Muslim community in Bristol? Whoever put this up has no common sense whatsoever. By putting it next to a mosque, it effectively paints the Muslim community as a bunch of terrorists. It should be removed before any more damage is done."
| "It offends our delicate senibilities! Take it away! Mahmoud! Bring me rose water!" |
Scores of Muslims work and live in the Stapleton Road area. Building work on the mosque began a few years ago and although it is not yet completed, the building is already used regularly. Amer Salman, a director of the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society, which represents a number of the city's mosques, said: "To put this advert up near a mosque is insensitive and undiplomatic, to say the least. It's obviously been put up out of ignorance and stupidity. The idea of putting anything up that portrays violence is bad taste, but to put it next to a religious building is completely wrong."
| Must... control... gag... reflex! |
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