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A mosque proposed for the Gold Coast is a step closer to opening its doors after it was endorsed by a council committee.
But the Currumbin mosque can only go ahead if it is approved at a full Gold Coast regional council meeting on Tuesday.
Up to 50 people, some holding anti-Islam signs, protested outside a council planning committee meeting that voted on the proposal on Wednesday.
Signs at the protest outside council chambers in Bundall included “Super mosque today, Sharia Law and ISIS tomorrow, beheading the next” and “Burqua or bikini’s you decide”.
After a three-hour debate, the committee voted five to two in favour of endorsing a proposal by Salsabil Charity Organisation to convert a Currumbin warehouse into “a place of worship”.
A council spokesman said councillors Chris Robbins and Paul Taylor had voted against the plan because of social and planning issues.
About 30 residents who packed the public gallery at the meeting clapped and cheered when Robbins said plans for the mosque should be rejected.
Salsabil wants to convert the warehouse on a 4,768 sq m site. Thousands of people submitted objections to the proposal, while about 150 made submissions in support.
Concerns raised included the scale of the proposal, the social and economic impacts, traffic and noise issues, and hours of operation. A social media page opposing the mosque has about 4,000 supporters.
A police spokesman said officers had attended the protest but there were no arrests.
A spokesman from the Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate’s office said the mayor would not be available to comment until he had been briefed by the planning committee chair.
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