League wants minaret referendum in Italy
Proposal finds little support from government allies
01 December, 18:49
(ANSA) - Rome, December 1 - A proposal from the
right-wing Northern League for a referendum banning Islamic
minarets in Italy was rejected on Tuesday by allies in the
center-right government.Seizing on the vote in Switzerland this weekend, which came out favor of banning the construction of new Muslim spires, Simplification Minister Roberto Calderoli on Monday suggested Italy hold a referendum of its own.
But leading members of Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PdL) came down on the side of the Catholic Church, which condemned the referendum as an attack on the religious freedom of Muslims.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the move would represent "a step backwards in interfaith dialogue".
''Right or wrong, the referendum in Switzerland sent a message of mistrust to Muslims around the world''.
''I say that as a Christian, who wants Christians in other countries to be able to profess their religion freely''.
Also critical of the proposal, lower house PdL whip Fabrizio Cicchitto who warned against "falling into the same trap of fundamentalism that we see in repressive Islamic states''.
But Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, another Northern League heavyweight, said he too would have voted to stop new minarets from being built.
"The Swiss people didn't vote against religious freedom, they voted against a symbol charged with political meaning".
Maroni claimed that politics and faith were so intertwined in Islam that minarets were not just religious symbols, but signs of "power and control".
''That's the problem with Islam and the Swiss people understood that,'' he said.
Maroni added that he had ''no objections to the idea of letting the Italian people decide on such an important issue''.
"I'm confident a similar referendum in Italy would be approved by an even wider margin than in Switzerland," he said.
The League's proposal sparked a chorus of outrage from the center-left opposition.
Summing up their objections, shadow immigration minister of the largest opposition group, the Democratic Party (PD) launched a counterproposal for a bill protecting religious freedom.
In an open letter on her website, Livia Turco said that "any state that values peace and prosperity must guarantee the freedom of its religious minorities to worship in accordance with their beliefs".
Italy has around 1.2 million Muslims, making Islam the second religion after Catholicism.
According to a recent report by L'Espresso magazine, there are around 759 mosques in Italy, only four of which boast minarets.
