Though approximately 1.6 million Muslims live in Italy, there are only a handful of mosques officially registered in the entire country. To make matters worse, local authorities have recently closed “makeshift mosques” which drove hundreds of Muslims to peacefully protest last week by praying next to Rome’s Coliseum with placards reading “Peace” and “Open the mosques.”
According to Al Jazeera, Islam is not recognized as an official religion in Italy (unlike Judaism or the Mormon faith), and “many Muslims from North Africa and South Asia feel discriminated against on the grounds of both race and religion.”
“We feel people are pointing the finger at us,” says protester, Francesco Tieri. “There is no political will to recognize that we are here and that we are a peaceful community. We are forced to rent places to pray – which for us is like breathing air. If we can’t do it, we die.”
