Britain's Legoland to shut after extremist threats

Legoland in Britain will close its hotel this weekend after far-right extremists made threats against the theme park for agreeing to host a Muslim family fun day.

The resort and its hotel had been hired out by a group called the Muslim Research and Development Foundation, and 1,000 Muslim families were due to spend the weekend there.

But Legoland cancelled the private event last week after its Facebook page was bombarded by abusive messages from "right-wing" groups.

Following talks with the organisers and police, it has now decided to shut the 150-room hotel in Windsor to the west of London this weekend.

Legoland has not confirmed which groups had sent the messages.

Before the fun day was cancelled, a blogger from the far-right British National Party said Legoland should be "ashamed of themselves for bowing to these Muslims".

Legoland had already planned to close the theme park to the general public this weekend, the spokeswoman said. It will reopen for the 2014 season on March 14.

"The Legoland Windsor resort has had to close the hotel on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 March 2014 after threats from right-wing groups," a Legoland spokeswoman said.

"The safety and security of our guests and our members of staff has to be our number one priority, which is why we've made the difficult decision to close the hotel."

The resort said it was "extremely sorry" and pledged to give full refunds to guests with bookings.

Thames Valley Police said abusive or threatening messages would not be tolerated and it is investigating whether any offence has been committed.

The Muslim Research and Development Foundation is chaired by cleric Haitham al-Haddad, who has been described by some newspapers as an "extremist preacher". Haddad denies the claim.