Construction has been approved by the city council and is due to begin by the end of the year. Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma called on the city’s inhabitants to give the right-wingers “the cold shoulder”. Gabriele Hermani, a spokeswoman for the interior ministry condemned the conference saying: “We believe that such an event organised by populists and extremists in Cologne is damaging to the good co-operation between the city and its Muslim citizens.”
