Denmark's first 'real' mosque opens

Denmark's largest purpose-built mosque, including the country's first minaret, opens on Thursday in Copenhagen's gritty northwest district after receiving a 150 million kroner (20.1 million euros, $27.2 million) endowment from Qatar.

The longstanding political influence of the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP), as well as the row over Prophet Mohammed cartoons that led to deadly protests in Muslim countries have strained relations between Denmark's largest religious minority and the majority population.

After years of political wrangling and "not in my backyard" protests, Copenhagen's Muslim community is cheering the opening of the 6,700 square metre (72,118 square feet) complex that will house a mosque, a cultural centre, a television studio and a fitness centre.

But sandwiched between a car dealership and a self storage firm in a low-income district, it is not quite the symbol of mainstream acceptance that many of Denmark's 200,000 Muslims had hoped for.

The absence of any Danish politician of note at Thursday's inauguration will also highlight the skepticism with which many Danes view the project, not least after it was announced that the funding came from gas-rich Qatar, which has a patchy record on human rights and has lately been embroiled in a corruption scandal over its winning bid for the 2022 World Cup.