MONTREAL, Canada
Imam Hamza Chaoui has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the City of Montreal and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre for allegedly calling him an "agent of radicalization", the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported Thursday.
The dispute began in January when Chaoui tried to set up the Ashabeb Islamic community youth center in the city borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Borough Mayor Real Menard refused to allow the imam a building permit on alleged security grounds, while Coderre reportedly called the imam an “agent of radicalization and instigator of social tension."
“It (the center) could provoke things. Lone wolves can exist and that’s the fruit of radicalization,” the Montreal mayor added.
According to the CBC, Chaoui's lawyer Habib Rachidi said: "When the head of the second largest city in Canada calls you a threat to public safety and an agent of radicalization, your life is going to suffer."
The lawyer also claimed the mayor had refused to offer apology to Chaoui.
