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After France, Italy Threatens To Close Mosques
Few days after a similar threat by his French counterpart, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu warned Saturday, September 27, that "either mosques respect the law or they close." In statements carried by the BBC radio, Pisanu said: "We will not permit Italian mosques to transform into centers of secret financing and recruitment of Islamist fighters." The minister vocalized similar threats in an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper published Thursday, September 25.
| Sounds like a reasonable request to me. Want to hear the turbans screech? |
A spokesman for the Islamic Cultural Center in Milan cast doubts on the criteria to be used in determining possible legal violations that could result in the closure of mosques, said the British broadcast.
| "No, no! That'd never work!" |
"Mosques are places of worship and if you close them because someone who committed a crime happened to enter the mosque then by the same logic we would have to shut down Churches frequented by members of the Italian mafia," he averred.
| "If we wudn't Muslims, youse guyz wouldn't be pickin' on us like this!" |
Pisanu also said he planned to follow France's example of setting up a council of moderate Muslims to communicate with state authorities.
| "Yeah. That's it! We'll set up a front organization!" |
"Nicolas Sarkozy (French interior minister) explained to me that there is a clear link between the opening of dialogue with moderate Islam and the 22 percent reduction in violence in Paris suburbs," Pisanu said.
| Oh! The moderates are turning in the bad boyz when the danger of retaliation drops, are they? |
"And even if it is with different methods, I want to do the same thing in Italy - hold dialogue with the large majority of moderate Muslims who have come here to find bread and work," the minister added.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-09-28 |
