The northeastern port town of
Monfalcone, where many of the population are Muslim shipbuilding
workers, must ensure they have adequate places of worship, the
Council of State said Thursday after the town council shut down
the town's two allegedly irregular mosques housed in shop
facilities.
Italy's highest administrarive court upheld appeals from the
Islamic cultural associations Darus Salaam and Baitus Salat of
Monfalcone.
In its order the CoS stated that "the (city) administration is
required to identify, in consultation with the interested
parties and in a spirit of mutual and loyal cooperation,
alternative sites that are accessible and dignified to allow
believers to pray".
It set a round table for discussion within seven days.
The dispute between the municipality and the associations
concerned two buildings used for prayers, for which the
restoration of their use was ordered.
Monfalcone is the main base of the giant Fincantieri
shipbuilding group.
A majority of the workers are now immigrant Bangladeshis of
Muslim persuasion.
Monfalcone's rightwing League party Mayor Anna Maria Cisint has
been on a crusade against what she says as a chronic lack of
integration by mainly Muslim immigrants, who she says refuse to
learn Italian, send their women to work outside the home, or
integrate in any way with the local community.
She was recently placed under a police escort after receiving
death threats over her closure of the mosques.
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