League party MEP: You can’t open a mosque in a business premises or pizzeria

The decision of the Council of State put an end to a legal dispute that had been going on for years.

The higher court declared the previous ruling of the administrative court of the northeastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia null and void and rejected the appeal of the Islamic cultural center called Darus Salaam operating in the city of Monfalcone.

Anna Maria Cisint, who was the mayor of Monfalcone between 2016 and 2024 and is currently a member of the European Parliament for the right-wing ruling party, the League, spoke about the unprecedented ruling.

“The Council of State has finally stated in no uncertain terms that those who practice Islam must abide by the law, after in recent years they have given a specific interpretation to the right to practice their religion, that is, they have done what they wanted,”

– said Anna Maria Cisin.

She recalled that almost a third of Monfalcone, with a population of just over thirty thousand, is made up of immigrants, the highest proportion in the country. The most populous group is Muslims from Bangladesh. She added that in 2003 there were barely thirteen hundred immigrants living in the city.

Muslims need a place of prayer, and since there is no mosque in the city and the entire province, they have created “improvised” mosques: they have rented out parts of buildings, properties, and business premises and transformed them into mosques under the name of Islamic cultural centers.

Anna Maria Cisint said she has been fighting to eliminate these places of worship since she was elected mayor. She banned the operation of unofficial mosques, for which she received numerous threats and verbal attacks, and on Christmas 2023, the Muslim community of Monfalcone held a demonstration against her. She resigned from the mayor’s office last year due to threats to her safety.