Town 'stops' Muslim events at sports grounds

Hard-right nationalist party Vox is maintaining its pressure in the Murcia region of Spain on the ruling Partido Popular (PP) party to apply policies against the religious and cultural displays of the Muslim population. The latest example has been set in Jumilla, where the town hall, headed by PP mayor Severa González, has agreed to modify the municipal by-law so that the town's sports facilities can be used "exclusively for sports or events and activities organised by the town hall".

With this change, the town hall will have the power to ban the celebration of Muslim religious traditions, such as the end of Ramadan or Eid al‑Adha in these facilities. The town has about 20 per cent Muslim residents.

Vox had wanted to go further, rejecting the celebration of Eid al‑Adha, which they described as "cultural regression", and demanded the "promotion of traditional Spanish activities and butchery in the face of the expansion of foreign practices such as halal".

The mayor said that any media that alluded to banning the celebrations of Muslim festivities in any of the town's venues was spreading misinformation. According to González, "absolutely noone has been banned from any kind of religious manifestation".

The news has come as a bit of a shock to the local Muslim community, given there have never been issues caused by festivities.

President of the Spanish federation of Islamic religious entities (Ferri) Mounir Benjelloun denounced the "racism, xenophobia and, above all, Islamophobia" demonstrated by such political decisions and accused the council of "putting laws and regulations in place to hinder the exercise of religious freedoms and the fundamental rights enshrined in the Spanish Constitution".