{"id":2575083,"date":"2026-03-02T08:29:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/western-governments-are-surrendering-the-public-square-to-islamists-literally\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:35:07","slug":"western-governments-are-surrendering-the-public-square-to-islamists-literally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/western-governments-are-surrendering-the-public-square-to-islamists-literally\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Governments Surrender The Public Square To Islamists"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwestern-governments-are-surrendering-the-public-square-to-islamists-literally%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2575083&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece argues that public spaces in Western cities are increasingly being claimed by assertive religious expression,turning streets and squares into <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >de facto outdoor places<\/a> of worship. It points to Times Square in New York City during Ramadan,where hundreds prayed on rugs and the city issued permits while officials praised the event as a sign of pluralism,implying a broader trend of state accommodation. It draws parallels with France\u2019s Clichy-la-Garenne, where Friday prayers occupied the market square and local authorities later mobilized to reclaim the space in defense of secular public space. In Dearborn, Michigan, residents objected to mosque loudspeakers broadcasting calls to prayer, arguing the sound invaded private homes even as officials favored the loud group. the UK\u2019s Tower Hamlets experience is cited as another instance of contested public space,including incidents of intimidation and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rogue-judges-are-turning-judicial-review-into-judicial-rule\/\" title=\"Rogue Judges Are ... Judicial Review Into Judicial Rule\">residents pushing back<\/a> against what critics call \u201c Muslim zones.\u201d Across these cases, the author contends that the state is retreating, turning the public square into contested territory and allowing the loudest groups to shape city life, with police acting as border guards rather than protectors of a unified civic space. The piece is written by Yuan Goh, a writer on national and global political and cultural issues based in Massachusetts.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In cities across the West, the pavement has become a stage for a specific, assertive religious claim.<\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 20, Times Square was filled with men kneeling shoulder to shoulder on prayer rugs for Ramadan&rsquo;s nightly Taraweeh prayers. New York City&rsquo;s most famous intersection, a place meant for commerce and tourism, had become a place for religious ritual, as it has <a href=\"https:\/\/documentedny.com\/2026\/02\/24\/nyc-ramadan-times-square\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">since 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DUt_mezjpvO\/?hl=en&amp;img_index=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hundreds of men<\/a> block the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CebHNQl3F9I&amp;t=3101s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">center<\/a> of Times Square they aren&rsquo;t just practicing a faith. They represent a community that has surged to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/ramadan-2026-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">an estimated 1 million people<\/a> in New York City, roughly 10 percent of the population. They are marking a conquest of the public square. They are turning the literal crossroads of the Western world into an outdoor mosque for radical Islam.<\/p>\n<p>Public officials treat a massive religious obstruction as a vibrant community event, a beautiful sign of a pluralistic society, and surrender their duty to the individual citizen. The street has been turned into a site of government-sanctioned disruption. This signals that the right to seize a thoroughfare belongs to those who practice their radical religion the loudest. This is how the West fractures.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>State Assists the Conquest<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The city gave the <a href=\"https:\/\/documentedny.com\/2026\/02\/24\/nyc-ramadan-times-square\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">permits<\/a> and allowed Times Square to become a restricted zone for Taraweeh prayers.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor personally joined and praised the occasion. Standing before the cameras, Zohran Mamdani <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/ramadan-2026-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">framed<\/a> the disruption of the city as a moment of triumph. He called Ramadan his &ldquo;favorite month of the year.&rdquo; He dismissed the physical blockage of Broadway as a mere byproduct of a &ldquo;month of reflection&rdquo; and a &ldquo;month of solidarity.&rdquo; When asked how he felt on that first day of Ramadan, Mamdani joked to reporters, &ldquo;Right now, I feel parched.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>While the mayor was &ldquo;parched,&rdquo; the city was being partitioned. He looked forward to &ldquo;connecting with Muslims across the city&rdquo; through state-supported projects. As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/ramadan-2026-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sheikh Imam Chernor Sa<u>&rsquo;<\/u>ad Jalloh<\/a> of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York explained when discussing Ramadan, &ldquo;For Muslims, opportunity is not only to make money, it&rsquo;s not only to win elections &hellip; Opportunity is when your relationship with God is excellent.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>France&rsquo;s Conquest<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In France, the republic has fought this same war for years. The suburb of Clichy-la-Garenne became a front line. For months, the local market square was seized every Friday. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysabah.com\/europe\/2017\/11\/10\/french-lawmakers-push-to-ban-muslim-street-prayers-protesting-closure-of-local-mosque\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hundreds of men occupied the pavement to pray<\/a>. It solidified as a religious territory.<\/p>\n<p>They claimed the closure of a local prayer hall forced them onto the asphalt. That was a choice. It was a choice to use the street as leverage against the government. The local mayor, Remi Muzeau, saw the stakes. He realized that once the state allows a religious group to block the road, the law of the republic dies.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2017, Muzeau led a march of more than 100 local officials to reclaim the square. They carried a large banner with a clear message: &ldquo;Stop Illegal Street Prayers.&rdquo; France&rsquo;s law enshrines <em>la<\/em><em>&iuml;cit&eacute;<\/em>, the principle of secular public space. They wore their official sashes and sang the national anthem to drown out the prayers. It was a surreal scene: the state was forced to protest against its own failure to enforce the law.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor stood his ground. He pledged to return every Friday to protect the &ldquo;tranquility and freedom&rdquo; of his people. Yet police formed a human barricade between the groups. The event proved that the public square is up for grabs. If a group is organized enough, the government will retreat.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Michigan&rsquo;s Muslim Prayers Destroy Peace<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In the U.S., the dispute has moved into residential neighborhoods. In&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wxyz.com\/news\/dearborn-residents-complain-about-outdoor-calls-to-prayer-from-mosques-throughout-city?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dearborn<\/a>, noise laws set limits of 70 decibels during the day and 60 at night, and prohibit loudspeakers between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Although within those limits, several mosques broadcast the Islamic call to prayer over outdoor speakers for short periods during the day.<\/p>\n<p>Some residents describe an &ldquo;invasion of privacy&rdquo; reaching into their own yards. Andrea Unger has lived in the same house for more than 40 years. She told the city council that the broadcasts carry into her home and that she does not wish to hear prayers amplified into her yard. She described being awakened by early morning calls before 7 a.m., though one mosque later eliminated its early broadcast after complaints.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bluewaterhealthyliving.com\/news\/local-news\/michigan\/40-dearborn-residents-ask-city-to-lower-volume-on-mosques-outdoor-call-to-prayer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">In 2025, 40 residents signed a petition to the city council to request relief.<\/a>&nbsp;Instead of defending the residents, the Muslim police chief compared the noise to church bells. The state has chosen to accommodate the loud group over the quiet citizen.<\/p>\n<p>For those objecting, the issue is whether amplified religious sound should project into private homes at all, even when it operates within municipal limits.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>U.K.&rsquo;s Muslim Zones<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The pattern repeats in the United Kingdom in the borough of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2014\/aug\/08\/islamist-black-flag-taken-down-tower-hamlet-london\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tower Hamlets<\/a>. In 2014, a black flag &mdash; the Rayah, a symbol often associated with jihadist groups such as ISIS &mdash; flew from the metal archway of the Will Crooks housing estate. Residents were intimidated. The council and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-takeaways-from-senate-report-on-trump-assassination-attempt-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Top takeaways from Senate report on Trump assassination attempt - Washington Examiner\">police didn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t act.<\/p>\n<p>It was a 77-year-old Roman Catholic nun, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.standard.co.uk\/news\/london\/nun-tears-down-jihadi-flag-after-it-appeared-at-gates-of-tower-hamlets-estate-9656920.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sister Christine Frost<\/a>, who took action. She climbed up and pulled the flag down herself, later telling reporters the display was provocative and threatened the peace of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>At different times in the same borough, self-styled &ldquo;patrols&rdquo; accosted passers-by to enforce religious codes on public grounds, targeting people for their clothes or for carrying alcohol and telling couples to stop holding hands in what they called a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2013\/dec\/06\/muslim-vigilantes-jailed-sharia-law-attacks-london\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;Muslim zone.&rdquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Contested Territory<\/h2>\n<p>The evidence from New York to London reveals a single truth: the state is in retreat. Whether it is the blockage of a city street or the auditory occupation of a neighborhood, the result remains the same. The public square has become contested territory. The police become border guards between groups instead of protectors of a unified city.<\/p>\n<p>Through these surrenders, the state creates a new framework of division. It hands the keys of the city to the loudest and most assertive groups. The partition is complete.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Yuan Goh is a writer focused on national and global political affairs and cultural issues. He currently resides in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>West cities turn Times Square into a stage for Ramadan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4192,"featured_media":2575084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Tijes-e1772132709730.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[74869,60119,5894,74868,74867],"class_list":["post-2575083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-government-policy-2","tag-islamists","tag-politics","tag-public-sphere-2","tag-western-governance"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Tijes-e1772132709730.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2575083"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2575090,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575083\/revisions\/2575090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2575084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2575083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2575083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2575083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}