The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a report on the Georgia town of Lilburn, where the city council was the target of a lawsuit by the US Justice Department over claims that it discriminated against an application by the Dar-e Abbas Islamic centre for planning permission to expand its premises.

The city council, which spent nearly $63,000 in legal expenses on the case before finally settling with the Justice Department in August, received emails from concerned residents, such as: “Remember the World Trade Center and what these people stand for. By letting these people having [sic] a Mosque built is only a stepping stone to possible future disasters.”

Opponents of the mosque development have threatened that council members who approved the application will pay a political price in Lilburn’s municipal elections in November.