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The streets around a North London mosque were packed Friday night with young people protesting a demonstration by anti-Muslim groups.
Stop Islamification of Europe had announced a protest at an unfinished mosque in Harrow on the eighth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Their demonstration attracted a much larger number of counter-protesters, The Times of London reported.
SIOE said it called off its march, as requested by police. But a crowd of 2,000 people gathered.
Clerical leaders asked the young Muslims and anti-Fascist campaigners to go home, a call most ignored. Some of the young men threw bottles at riot police and set off fireworks.
"People came here in the name of defending a mosque that does not need to be defended," said Ajmal Masroor, a mosque spokesman. "We want the others to have their protest, and we can ignore them."
At least eight people were arrested.
Last Saturday, a march by the English Defense League in downtown Birmingham set off similar clashes.
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