"Milan, darling, Milan."
Posted on 07/07/2008 5:02:16 PM PDT by NCjim
A controversial mosque in the Italian city of Milan is to be shut down, the country's right-wing government says.
The Jenner mosque attracts about 4,000 Muslims each week, with Friday prayers often spilling out on to the street.
Now, after years of complaints from local residents, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has said he will close the mosque by August.
A leading Roman Catholic has accused Mr Maroni of behaving like a fascist. He has rejected that charge.
Rendition
The Jenner mosque is based in a converted garage.
Since it opened as an Islamic cultural centre in 1988, it has outgrown its cramped surroundings - much to the alarm of people living in the neighbourhood, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome.
It has come under the spotlight several times for alleged links to extremism.
The Muslim cleric, Abu Omar, who was known for his fiery preaching, says he was kidnapped on his way to the mosque in 2003.
He claims he was then transferred to Egypt, where he was tortured.
Twenty-six suspected CIA agents and several Italian intelligence officials are currently on trial in Milan over his alleged rendition.
Most of them are being tried in absentia.
'Nomads'
Mr Maroni, who belongs to the anti-immigrant Northern League, has said he will press ahead with plans to close the mosque, and that anybody found praying in the street will be issued with a ticket.
The local Muslim community is being offered the use of a nearby stadium, in which the Beatles once played.
However, the council has said it can only be used four times each week and that each person will be charged on entry.
The president of the mosque, Abdel Hamid Shaari, has said he is happy to pay rent but that its members "won't be treated like nomads".
"We are Milanese and we are not going to accept the solution that's being offered," he said.
Catholic support
The Catholic church has come out in support of the Muslim community.
The Roman Catholic priest in charge of inter-faith relations in Milan, Monsignor Gianfranco Bottoni, said that only a fascist or populist government would resort to such dictatorial methods as closing a mosque.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Mr Maroni said he was addressing residents' complaints that worship regularly spilled out on to the street.
He said he had faced similar criticism from the UN children's fund (Unicef), when the Italian government announced that it was fingerprinting all Roma people of gypsies.
However, he had convinced Unicef that the move would help get Roma children into mainstream schools, he said.
"Milan, darling, Milan."
Sorry but I don’t consider islam a religion. It’s a dangerous mental disease. (apologies to George Carlin)
Leave it open for another week and then round up and deport everyone who comes there.
Well, I suppose I disagree with you there. If you don’t mind me asking, which others of the major ‘religions’ do you not consider religions?
Thanks. Am I the only one that thinks it’s okay for folks to be nativist if they want to be. I really don’t mind folks from just about anywhere, but when it comes to my home town turning into a foreign onclave, you can bet your posterior I don’t appreciate it.
A nice, small victory. May there be many more in the future in the jihad against evil.
How many other religions send their young men out, armed with fatwahs issued by their 'religious' leaders to slaughter innocent civilians in the name of their false god?
Catholics and Protestants used to kill each other throughout the Reformation, and until the 20th century in Ireland. I just get cautious when secular countries start supressing one religion, because then, what logical grounds prevent it from supressing others? It is a problem I don’t see with countries specifically, legally, aligned with a religion.
Let’s put an islamanazi pig petting zoo in it’s place..............
for the children.
I don’t think you take a city of 250,000 and swap out it’s populace in 25 years, so that you go from 80% white Northern European to 10% white Northern European and 70% something else.
I believe in assimilation. And even if that takes place, you get all sorts of problems with those folks wanting you to recognize the holidays of their old country. You get them wanting you to adjust your city, to become their old homeland.
They want the best you have to offer, and want you to accept the worst they have to offer.
I’m not going ot spend all day writing about some of the problems with this, but until you have had your town completely turned upside down, you won’t understand. And if there is a serious underlying crime element, good luck.
One day things are going fine, and the next day who knows who you cross.
This isn’t something that should be swept under the carpet. It’s a real problem, and I have read where others have had to deal with what I am talking about.
Why? Was this the goal, to completely toss communities upside down?
No, I wouldn’t call it frustration or anger with you.
I would call it frustration with our government’s immigration policies, and frankly it reach the level of anger for me.
I have seen what this does to communities. I have seen my own go from a solid Conservative community to a solid lefist community.
Our government brings in hundreds of thousands or millions of people from one area of the world, and turns them loose to swarm any community they want. Do they make any effort to disburse the? Do they make any effort to east the problems of flooding a community? No.
Even the best of people from a foreign nation, make a dramatic impact on our communites when they swarm them.
Personally, I’m all for a twenty to thirty year moratorium on immigration across the board, but what we are going to get next year is a plan to see about 100 million people normalized, and allowed to come here under chain immigration.
That will be one-third of our current populace added in just one decade or a little over.
1. Poorly educated
2. Some elderly (read that instant social security)
3. Healthcare impacted
4. Education impacted
5. Government services impacted
This is on my mind as well. Imagine how we assimilate all these people.
1. 20 to 35 million illegals naturalized
2. 1 to 10 people chain migration for each
3. Expanded work visas
4. Those here on work visas for five years, can file for resident status... then apply for citizenship
5. Those folks bring in family members too.
We’re talking about a massive number of people. And we’re talking about never getting our nation back, if we allow this.
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