The site for the new mosque is located in the small English town of Dalton-in-Furness. The £2.5 million South Lakes Islamic Centre project is being spearheaded by a group of local Muslim doctors at Barrow’s Furness General Hospital.
The mosque is required to provide facilities for the area’s modest-sized Muslim community to worship and congregate for weekly Jumu’ah prayers, as well as catering for a growing number of Muslim tourists who visit the area.
However, following the start of the building project, a storm of right-wing outrage has been whipped up by far-right agitators and has now escalated into a campaign of harassment and intimidation.
The anti-mosque protests appear to be largely organised by Britain First, a far-right group which peddles racist and xenophobic ideologies.
Police said they made three arrests a the latest protest on Saturday though the majority of people acted in a “safe manner”.
At the July 19 protest, 5Pillars discovered several protesters defending the site happened to also be local Cumbrian converts to Islam.
5Pillars spoke with Daniel who was also precent at the demonstration. He explained why a mosque being built is a positive development for the community and not something to be feared.
“I know the media has a lot of negatives to say when demonising Muslims but my experience of Islam in my adult life has been nothing but positive. Muslim are a very generous people and engage in a lot of charity.
“I am glad that so many local people have come to defend this mosque. Religious and non-religious people and people of no particular politics have just seen racism and oppression and have come here to stand against it”.
Most of the Muslims at the protest didn’t wish to be filmed due to the fear of being targeted by the far-right.
Mosques have become a favoured target of far-right attacks in recent years with multiple incidents occurring across the UK since the start of 2025.
