Italian Bill to Block Mosque Building

The bill would mandate that the mosques should have no minaret or loudspeakers calling the faithful to prayer. (Google photo)

The Northern League will present the parliament next week with a bill that requires regional approval and a local referendum for building mosques. 

It would also mandate that mosques should have no minaret or loudspeakers calling the faithful to prayer.

The motion demands that mosques will have to be at least one kilometer away from any nearby church and that sermons be delivered in Italian, not Arabic.

The Northern League has four ministers in the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, including the interior ministry.

The motion is only supported by the small, ultra-Catholic UDC party with no immediate support from Berlusconi's Forza Italia party or from the ex-Fascist National Alliance.

Italy has a Muslim population of some 1.2 million, including 20,000 reverts, according to unofficial estimates.

Muslims are already having hard time getting approval for mosque building before the new bill.

Residents in Genoa protested last September plans to build a mosque in the town, claiming that it would be offensive because it is near a church.

In the town of Colle di Val d'Elsa, most of the residents see a planned mosque a symbol of "occupation".

Italian authorities have bowed to pressures of far-right groups and put off plans to build a mosque in Bologna.

Christian Defender

The Northern League is widely accused of racism with many critics calling it the BNP of Italy, a reference to the British right-wing party.

Its election campaign played on issues such as immigration, crime and economic and cultural fears from immigration.

Portraying itself as a defender of Italy's Christian roots, it started its mission in the new government in May with bringing down a mosque in the northern city of Verona.

Last September, the League rejoiced the success of its campaign to halt the building of a mosque in the northern city of Bologna.

On August 8, League MP Mario Borghezio burst into a church in the northern city of Genoa shouting anti-Islam statements.

He vowed to "continue the fight of the Knights of the Order of Malta to defend Christianity."

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta began as a Christian charity in Al-Quds in 1080 to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land.

It is now a state located in Rome and is recognized by 50 countries worldwide.

It is accused of conducting massive missionary work in troubled regions in Muslim countries like Sudan's Darfur under the guise of aid and charity.

Its locals or members must take a solemn oath reading: "I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the church either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope."