Illegal Mosque Shut Down in Lombardy

Authorities in the Italian town of Cantu in Lombardy were apparently indifferent to being called WAYCISTS, and shut down a mosque that was operating illegally in an industrial building.

Many thanks to FouseSquawk for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:00   A storehouse built for commercial, industrial or arts and craft use
00:05   cannot be used as a religious site where hundreds of people enter
00:10   on the occasion of religious festivals, with a relevant urban impact on the city,
00:14   and what is ordered in the verdict in which the Tar [Regional Administrative Tribunal]
00:17   of Lombardy has confirmed the measure by the community of Cantu,
00:20   in which the administration had last June ordered
00:24   the cultural association, Assalam, to make no further use
00:29   of the building on Via Milano as a place of prayer, including on the occasion of Ramadan.
00:33   The Milan judges of the Second Section of Tar, in dismissing the appeal by the association,
00:37   explain that the considerable number of people who enter the property
00:40   on the occasion of religious festivities
00:43   represent a use of the location that for its urban and building impact
00:49   requires the prior issue of a specific building permit.
00:53   After the Muslims, in spite of the warnings, continued to pray in the storehouse,
00:58   the administration of the “city of wood furniture” had decided to proceed by legal means,
01:02   making the decision to remove the ownership of the building from the association,
01:06   to have it inherited by the municipality.
01:09   The judges, accepting a portion of the appeal of the association, on the other hand, cancelled
01:13   the measure that had required the “handing over of the keys”.
01:17   The property, therefore remains property of the Muslims,
01:20   but they can no longer use it as a place of prayer.
01:23   Great satisfaction was expressed by the Lega Nord [Northern League],
01:26   which in recent years had battled for this cause.
01:29   “It is a historic victory,” said the undersecretary of the interior for Cantu, Nicola Molteni.
01:34   “Finally, law and legality have been put back in place.”
 

3 thoughts on “Illegal Mosque Shut Down in Lombardy

  1. When I first read the headline, I thought the closing of the building, the act of closing, was illegal–that being my jaded interpretation, a pessimistic one. I’m gratified that it is the building that is illegal and not the closing of the building.

  2. I don’t see the victory.

    The government ordered the Muslims to stop using the building as a mosque and the Muslims ignored the ruling.

    The city government then tried to get ownership and possession of the building. The courts agreed that the municipality had the right to ownership, but granted the Muslim owners the right to open access to the property, and ordered the Muslims to stop using the building as a mosque.

    So, I have every confidence the Muslims will obey the government comment this time and stop using the building, to which they have keys and open access, as a mosque.

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