US Islamophobic mosque protest shut down by armed worshipers

An anti-Muslim hate group that planned an armed protest outside a mosque in Texas on Saturday was met with stern resistance as worshippers came out bearing weapons of their own.

The Bureau of American Islamic Relations [BAIR] surrounded the Nation of Islam mosque in South Dallas in an attempt to intimidate worshippers inside.

But members of the Muslim community were joined with those from the Black Panther movement as well as the Huey P. Newton Gun club as they stepped outside to face the outnumbered protesters.

"This is an armed defence manoeuvre, making sure that our communities are safe and secure from any insurgents coming in," Krystal Muhammad of the New Black Panther Party told local news, Fox4.

"We won’t allow anybody to come in and try to intimidate our brothers and sisters."

The move by the Islamophobic group does not come as a shock to many.

Last year, armed members of BAIR allegedly stalked Muslims living in Irving as well as those from the Islamic Association of North Texas.

But members of the Panther Party said they would stand in the face of intimidation.

"We will not allow them to come to South Dallas with arms and intimidate our people," Yafeuh Balogun, spokesman for the Huey P. Newton Gun Club, told Fox4. "We're taking a defensive posture, but we’re not threatening anyone."

"It's a people's victory here in South Dallas today," he said Saturday after BAIR left without incident.