Roberto Maroni, the Italian Minister of the Interior (Northern League), says that unless a solution is found by the end of August to the Islamic Cultural Institute and mosque in the Viale Jenner in Milan, it will be shut down. Maroni says he is sure a quick solution can be found for the demands of the citizens to have their street and for the mosque to have enough space.
Municipality representatives and politicians met to discuss the problem. Maroni had met with representatives of the people living in the area of the mosque, who complain about the fact that four thousand Muslims come to the mosque on Friday and spread out their prayer rugs all over the street and sidewalks.
Umberto Bossi, head of the Northern League, says that this will close down the mosque and that this is an important step for the League, which is keeping its promise to the voters. They demand that the Muslims to move not only the mosque (which is in a garage) but also the Islamic center, that they will get no public aid, and that the conditions are met by the end of August.
Mayor Letizia Moratti's proposed solution was to open up places at the time of prayer to be used for prayer. One such place is the Velodromo Vigorelli, but this was hampered by the requirement to move both mosque and cultural center and by the resistance of the League.
One of the problems is that the municipality is willing to find a solution for the mosque, but not for the cultural center. Deputy Mayor Riccardo De Corato says that given the urban density there is no room.
Abdel Hamid Shari, head of the center, says he's willing to consider temporary prayer arrangement and the transfer of the center, but that nobody had spoken to him and the entire discussion is being conducted through the press. Shari says that he doesn't accept ultimatums, and that if they want to prevent people from praying on the streets, they should send the police to do so, rather than closing the center.
Source: Corriere Della Sera (Italian), h/t François Desouche (French)
More info on AKI (English).
See also: Italy: Verona mosque destroyed, Milan: Mosque attacked
4 comments:
I am loving la Lega Nord more and more every day. How about they bulldoze the mosque, regardless of the imam's unwillingness to accept ultimatums, like that means anything, and then still arrest the seditious Muslims praying in the street, obstructing traffic, supporting the Taliban, spreading terrorist propaganda, and operating without a permit?
I wish every country treated Muslims the way China does. Sometimes I think that Mark Steyn might be wrong that America will lead the way in terms of handling the Islam problem. China and Italy are way ahead of the game.
Ancora, viva l'Italia.
Hi jetabler,
There is a big difference between Italy (a democratic liberal country) and China (a dictatorship).
To paraphrase on what is asked of Muslims who say they prefer Sharia law - If you prefer China's method of dealing with Muslims (and other dissidents) - why don't you move there?
Western liberalism has a lot of advantages. One of its disadvantages is that it's much harder to deal with subversive activity. If you deal with threats by turning into a dictatorship, what have you achieved exactly?
Italy is still at the forefront of this fight in Europe. We can only hope more countries will begin to support us, rather than shrug and look away (Belgium) or condemn us outright (Spain).
U tell that Islam is all about terrorism - Whatever brutality happens to Muslims is hidden by the Media and then, when even a 10 % retaliation takes place - We Get ONE DAMN LABEL "That WE ARE TERRORISTS"
Some of the extremists Muslims of the modern world kill innocent people... I agree - but i do not accept them as Muslims - Neither does Islam.. To us they will fuel the hell fire....
And the Quran says: If a Muslim kills a Human ( Whether its a muslim or a non muslim)- HE KILLS THE WHOLE OR ALL OF HUMANITY....
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