Hawzah News Agency-Muslims are threatening to march to the Vatican if the Italian government doesn't stop closing their mosques.
Italian authorities have been cracking down on unsanctioned mosques throughout Rome, citing land use, safety and building violations. One of the real reasons, however, is that they make it difficult or impossible to screen for extremism and terrorism.
In October thousands of Muslims protested outside of the Roman Colosseum, demanding that they be left alone to gather when and where they want.
“The problem must be solved at the social and political level,” said Bachcu, the organizer of the Coliseum protest. “Continuing with the closings will not solve anything. A prayer room cannot be closed due to a problem in urban planning. Prayer is our fundamental right and if they insist on shutting down the mosques, we will pray in the streets,” he said.
Last week, authorities closed down another makeshift mosque in Rome for failure to meet building norms and for non-compliance with safety standards, the sixth such mosque-closing in the last months.
“As many as 300 people can pray here; where will we go if it’s closed?”, said a young Muslim man identified only as “Hussein,” who works in a hardware store not from one of the “Islamic centers” that police have closed.
This center is located in the eastern suburbs, a district where half of the inhabitants are Muslims and the heart of the Islamic protest against the closure of Islamic places of worship.
“We live here, we work here, we cannot go to pray in Parioli [the other side of town],” says Anwar, the president of a neighborhood prayer hall.
Italy is home to the largest Muslim migrant population in Europe. More than 40 percent of Italy's illegal immigrants are Muslim, pouring in from Libya by taking boats across the Mediterranean. In 2016 alone nearly 90,000 refugees have come to Italy.
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