Folk devils and the proposed Islamic school in Camden

It started in October 2007. A charity submitted a proposal to build an Islamic school in the semi-rural suburb of Camden (located on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia). Opposition to this proposal was sparked instantly. After two rallies, over 3000 objections to Camden Council, the involvement of several politicians, the distribution of several anti-school petitions and flyers, the formation of an anti-school residents' group, and the placement of two pigs' heads and an Australian flag on the proposed site; Camden Council rejected the application. The drive behind these hostile actions to the proposal was fuelled by the representations of the folk devil deviant. Moral panic theories regarding folk devils are used to make sense of the recent controversy in Camden.