9/11 Koran burning only 'suspended' (From Ealing Times)

9/11 Koran burning only 'suspended'

1:55am Friday 10th September 2010 in

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The US pastor who planned an "international Burn a Koran day" on September 11 is reconsidering his decision to call off the protest.

Pastor Terry Jones agreed to cancel the book-burning after he said he was promised that a proposed mosque in New York would be moved away from the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

But outside his church in Gainesville, Florida, later, Mr Jones claimed he was "lied to" after Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida and the leader of the New York mosque, said there was no such deal.

Mr Musri said there was only an agreement for him and Mr Jones to travel to New York on Saturday to meet the imam overseeing plans to build the mosque.

He said: "I told the pastor that I personally believe the mosque should not be there, and I will do everything in my power to make sure it is moved. But there is not any offer from there (New York) that it will be moved. All we have agreed to is a meeting, and I think we would all like to see a peaceful resolution."

In response, Mr Jones, leader of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Centre, said he was now putting the protest on hold instead of cancelling it.

"Given what we are now hearing, we are forced to rethink our decision," he said. "So as of right now, we are not cancelling the event but we are suspending it."

Foreign Secretary William Hague was among those who condemned Mr Jones for the protest, describing his plan as "selfish and provocative in the extreme".

Until Thursday night Mr Jones said he was going ahead with the stunt despite receiving more than 100 death threats. The White House, the Vatican, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan General David Petraeus and Tony Blair have all urged Mr Jones to call off his protest.

Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman said he "strongly opposed" any attempt to offend members of a religious group, and Commons leader Sir George Young was cheered by MPs as he described the pastor as a "stupid bigot".