ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (AP/ 1010 WINS) -- A northern New Jersey town where Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi tried unsuccessfully to stay last summer could be in for a new round of protests.
According to Englewood Police Chief Arthur O'Keefe, a Libyan ambassador is scheduled to move into a mansion that Libya has owned in the Bergen County town since the 1980s.
Gadhafi's plans to stay there during his first visit to the United Nations in September provoked angry protests after a Scottish court's decision to free a man convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The man later received a hero's welcome in Libya.
It's an especially senstive issue to this area because nearly three dozen of the 259 passengers aboard Pan Am 103 were from New Jersey, including some whose families live near the Libyan mansion.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press, Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes criticized the move, saying that the Libyan government that embraced convicted Pan Am 103 bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi ``should not be allowed to take up residence in the state of New Jersey.''
"This is not the message we want to project to U.S. citizens and to the world _ that we will bend over backwards to accept a rogue nation that embraces and has historically financed terrorism,'' Wildes continued.
Plans were still being finalized Wednesday, but the unidentified ambassador stationed at Libya's Mission to the United Nations in New York was expected to move in to the Englewood house with his family any day, O'Keefe said.
Libyan officials in Washington and New York didn't return messages Wednesday seeking information about the ambassador's plans.
O'Keefe said one of the details still to be worked out was whether the town would be responsible for bearing the cost of security outside the mansion or whether that would be paid for by the federal government.
Among the more than 200 protesters at the mansion in August was Gov. Jon Corzine, who characterized the Pan Am 103 bombing as a precursor to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Gadhafi eventually stayed in New York City.
"I think there's going to be some sort of public outcry,'' O'Keefe predicted. ``The Libyan government represents something that's of concern to the residents. I don't anticipate any problems from the Libyans, I just hope that people in the neighborhood obey the law.''
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