Monday, July 7, 2008
Italy Gives 38 Egyptians the Boot
They say that Italy looks like a boot on a map. Well, the country has taken it literally and given the boot to 38 Egyptians. This just about a month after bulldozing a Mosque site. The Berlusconi government might just be the biggest foe of Islam in Europe. Hopefully others will follow.
Italy expels 38 Egyptians in immigration crackdown
Reuters
June 28, 2008
ROME (Reuters) - Italy said on Saturday it had expelled 38 Egyptians as part of a crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government on illegal immigration.
In a statement, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, said he was pleased at the expulsion of the Egyptian immigrants, who were flown to Cairo aboard a chartered plane.
Maroni also defended his plans to fingerprint Roma children. Roma people, known in Italy as "nomads", are blamed for much of the crime in Italian cities.
"We don't know who lives in legal (nomadic) camps let alone the illegal ones. We don't know the nationalities of the residents so we have to do a census," Maroni told the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Berlusconi took office in May pledging tough measures to stem illegal immigration, including legislation to make the act of crossing into Italy illegally itself an offence punishable by imprisonment.
Some immigrants seeking residency in Italy are fingerprinted already, but not usually children or European Union citizens.
The Catholic charity Fondazione Migrantes, which is linked to the Italian bishops' conference, questioned why Roma people were being singled out.
"It incomprehensible why fingerprints are being taken solely from minors from this tiny ethnic minority," it was quoted as saying by Italian news agencies.
"All of this will not reduce fear and give peace to our people, but set the stage for unearthing a type of xenophobia, or worse, of racial discrimination."
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by Andrew Dobbie)
Link to Article
Monday, July 7, 2008
Milan Mosque to be Closed Down
The good news from Italy never ends. Look at the difference with a conservative group in charge, like in Italy versus a liberal one like the Labour Party in the U.K. Who constantly bends over backwards for Muslims. Ask yourself, who will win this war for us?
Monday, 7 July 2008
Milan mosque to be closed down
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.
Link to Article
Posted by Exposing Islam at 8:04 PM
http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2008/07/milan-mosque-to-be-closed-down.htmlOther countries could take a clue.
Especially the U.S- after the sucker-punch of 9/11.
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Topic: ITALY: MOSQUES MUST RECOGNIZE ISRAEL (Read 2681 times)