ND Candidate For Athens Mayor Says New Mosque Will Attract Illegal Immigrants (Nooooo!)

Former Education Minister and ND cadres, Aris Spiliotopoulos, who is presently running for Athens Mayor said on Wednesday that the construction of Athens' first official mosque within the municipality's borders would result in 'third-world tents (appearing) under the sacred rock of the Acropolis'. He said that the structure should be constructed outside of the municipality's borders.

In an interview with SKAI TV, Spiliotopoulos said that recent calls for a city-wide referendum on the proposals to build Athens first mosque were not motivated by religious differences, but over concerns about the location of the structure.

It should be reminded that in 2013 the New Democracy-PASOK coalition agreed to construct a mosque on land belonging to the Hellenic Navy in the area of Votanikos (which is located very close to central Athens). A few months later, or specifically in November 2013 it awarded 946,000 EUROS for the contract for its construction to a private consortium and from what was reported at the time, work on the building was expected to commence early in 2014.

Spiliotopoulos may be part of the government that awarded the contract, but he has repeatedly sought to blame incumbent -incompetent and Soros backed- mayor, George Kaminis, for the location of the mosque.

     "Mr Kaminis says that he wants to plant a mosque in the centre of Athens and I say that we should ask the Athenians before we plant it," said Spiliotopoulos, who was tourism minister from 2007 to 2009 and then education minister for a number of months.

He added that Athenians know better than the education ministry – which has responsibility for religious affairs –, or the mayor, on where the mosque should be located and that Athens city residents should be the ones to decide on its fate and no one else.

     "I don't want it in Athens. We already have high urban density. I don't want any more concrete structures, I don't want another pole for illegal immigration; I don't want new third-world tents under the sacred rock of the Acropolis." 

Additionally, the candidate accused Kaminis of neglecting areas in the city center, where illicit trade and crime have escalated to unspeakable levels, while he stressed that “the mayor’s job is not to handout food, but to create new jobs”.

He also attempted to defend his description of desperate protesters demonstrating in Athens against their dismissal as “half-crazy”, by suggesting they were a handful of protesters for Palestine.