Italians Mobilizing: Want No Radicalizing Mosque Near Leaning Tower of Pisa
Nick Squires reports from Rome for the UK Telegraph:
Campaigners in Tuscany are fighting against a plan to build a mosque a few hundred yards from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
They are concerned that it is too close to the stone tower, one of Italy's best known tourist attractions, and fear that it could become a centre for radicalisation of local Muslims, of whom there are around 600.
The building of the mosque in Via del Brennero has been provisionally approved by Pisa's centre-left council but campaigners are gathering signatures for a petition calling for a local referendum on the issue.
"According to a recent poll, 57 per cent of Pisans are against the mosque," says campaign leader Gianluca Gambini, the Telegraph reports.
“It's not just that it would be built in the wrong location, just 400 metres from the Leaning Tower, but also because people know that mosques are places where there is a risk of radicalisation," Gambini says, according to the Telegraph.
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