Lake District residents protesting against a £2.5million mosque have been branded racist by their local Labour MP.
Two groups of demonstrators descended on the South Lakes Islamic Centre building site in Furness on Saturday - with police arriving at the scene.
One group backing the mosque were seen holding placards with messages reading "Muslims welcome here".
Other locals were seen sporting Union flags with messages including: "No to the mosque," and "Not racist! Just patriotic!".
Michelle Scrogham, the Labour MP for Barrow & Furness - who was part of the counter-protest - branded the latter group "racists" as she claimed locals have "always been incredibly welcoming" of immigration.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
|Michelle Scrogham claimed locals have 'always been incredibly welcoming' of immigration
"There's absolutely no place for racism in Cumbria," Scrogham said. "The comments that plague the social media pages constantly don't represent the people of this area.
"he people of this area have always been incredibly welcoming.
"We've had immigration on a mass scale for many, many years... Anybody that wants to come here and say you're not welcome, they’re wrong. It's just utterly wrong."
Meanwhile, pro-mosque protest organiser Paul Jenkins, of Furness Stand Up To Racism, said: "The protest against the Islamic Centre does not speak for the majority of people in Dalton or Furness.
"The majority of our people here are from Furness, including Dalton.
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SOUTH LAKES ISLAMIC CENTRE
|The Islamic centre gained planning permission in December 2022 - despite 30 objections being raised
"We celebrate our multicultural, multi-faith community and defend the right of the Islamic Centre to be here."
The Islamic centre gained planning permission in December 2022 - despite 30 objections being raised.
And during its construction, local suppliers are said to have refused to deal with mosque representatives.
"The concrete, which was supposed to come this week, has been delayed because of the GB News coverage," a spokesman for the centre claimed.
SOUTH LAKES ISLAMIC CENTRE
|'We celebrate our multicultural, multi-faith community and defend the right of the Islamic Centre to be here,' Paul Jenkins said
"It's just the challenges we face... It's a difficult area to build, but we are progressing very quickly."
The centre is being set up by Muslim doctors at Furness General Hospital who have been looking for a place of worship nearby.
But it has seen protests and counter-protests before.
In June, those backing the centre held banners reading "stop the far-right" and were heard chanting: "Say it loud, say it clear, Islamic centre is welcome here."