Far-right mayor bans Muslim prayers at town of Monfalcone, Italy

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA)- Muslims at town of Monfalcone, Italy were banded from prayers by Far-right mayor.

Guardian reported until this ban, Muslim residents in the Adriatic port town of Monfalcone had lived relatively peacefully for more than 20 years.

Addressed to the Darus Salaam Muslim cultural association on Via Duca d’Aosta, the order delivered contained two burnt pages of Quran and the Monfalcone’s far-right mayor order, Anna Maria Cisint, banned prayers on the premises.

Monfalcone’s population recently passed 30,000. Such a positive demographic trend would ordinarily spell good news in a country grappling with a rapidly declining birthrate, but in Monfalcone, where Cisint has been nurturing an anti-Islam agenda since winning her first mandate in 2016, the rise has not been welcomed.

The town’s population growth is mostly attributed to the sprawling shipyard owned by the state-controlled giant Fincantieri, whose policy of outsourcing labour over the past two decades led to a huge inflow of skilled foreign workers, mainly from Bangladesh.

The cheaper immigrant workforce far outnumbers Italians, especially during peak periods in the construction of huge cruise ships.

Monfalcone’s Bangladeshi community has been further boosted by relatives arriving via a family reunification policy, which Cisint would like to restrict, and by their Italy-born children.

Today, the community makes up 6,600 of Monfalcone’s total 9,400 foreign-born population, according to figures provided by Cisint during an interview with the Observer.

Immigration has altered the makeup of the town. There is an array of foreign-owned shops and restaurants, and a network of cycle paths mostly used by Bangladeshis, whose bikes are their main mode of transport.