Prayers amid draw festivities

2009-12-04 18:06

Cape Town - Devout Muslims knelt to pray outside their mosque on Friday as vuvuzelas blared and music belted out from a nearby building at Cape Town's Long Street fan festival.

There are two mosques in Long Street, and festival organisers had promised that noise levels would be "toned down" for the half-hour duration of Friday prayers.

However the promise, and the efforts of metro police, did not silence the vuvuzelas of fans queuing to go through a security check some 50m from the historic Noor el Hamedia mosque.

The mosque accommodates its overflow by having members of the jamaah, or congregation, pray on mats laid down in the street outside.

They did so as usual on Friday, as festival goers heading for the massive sound stage at the other end of Long Street detoured around them, some stopping to take photographs of the kneeling rows of men.

At one point those in the back row had to hurriedly move their mats to avoid being trampled by a group of fans angry that they were not being given free MTN hats.

One member of the jamaah, Mogamat Sedick, said the noise and disturbance were "not nice".

The start of the festival should have been delayed until prayers were finished, he said.

- SAPA