Loganville meeting draws hundreds over mosque

Mosque in Loganville. It's causing controversy among some residents there at Thursday night's city council meeting. Hundreds of people showed up. Dozens of people spoke at the meeting about the mosque. Some people waiting almost five hours. Let's five Sarah Jabbour has their story. Hundreds of people packed a Loganville city council meeting this week to talk about a potential Islamic training center or a mosque. Now that would be built right here behind me on Lieberg Road. It was a packed house at Loganville City Council on Thursday night. Some people even stayed in the parking lot as they waited for their five minutes to speak about a potential mosque. Some people are frustrated that construction has already begun on Lee Bird Road. Required permits were never issued. Why hasn't the city taken enforcement action? We know that there were no permits issued for the work already being done. And until the city can verify that the required permits and variables are in place, I'm calling for the construction work to be temporarily stopped. People are questioning why residents are just now hearing about the plans to build a 20,000 square foot center. I am here only to dispute the building of a mosque. That is all. And I don't understand why we are just now finding out about this. This has been ongoing. Why didn't we know? If this is peaceful, why didn't they go through the normal and us know about things? The issue is that you want to build a huge facility to attract hundreds more actual outsiders to our small town. But several people showed up to show support of the mosque. I don't know what we're all here for today. I've never felt so much hate and bigotry and racism. I don't know what your guys' decision really is today, what you guys can decide, what we're here for, too. One woman told council she just wants a place to pray where she lives. Another man invited anyone curious about the mosque to come visit. I want to remind the council that we are people. We are just as American as the next. I was born here. I have American values and when the must is open, please come by and visit us. We have nothing to hide. We have family life. Please visit us, ask questions. And I spoke to council member Melanie Long. She says that council never got a proposal for this construction and that she's not sure what's next. Reporting in Loganville, Tara Jabbour, Fox 5 News.