Women take part in a protest on December 23, 2023 in Mofalcone after the mayor stopped Muslim prayers. Photo: Mara Fella
The envelope containing two partially burned pages from the Quran came as a shock. Until then, Muslim residents in the Adriatic port city of Monfalcone had lived relatively peacefully for more than twenty years.
The envelope was addressed to the Islamic cultural association Darus Salaam on Via Duca d'Aosta and was received shortly after Monfalcone's far-right mayor Anna Maria Cisint banned prayers on the premises.
"It was hurtful, a serious insult that we never expected," said Bou Konate, president of the association. "But it was no coincidence. The letter was a threat generated by a hate campaign that has fueled the toxicity."
Monfalcone's population recently passed 30,000. Such a positive demographic trend would normally mean good news in a country struggling with a rapidly declining birth rate, but in Monfalcone, where Cisint has been nurturing an anti-Islam agenda since winning her first mandate in 2016, the increase was not welcomed.
The city's population growth is largely attributed to its sprawling shipyard owned by state-controlled giant Fincantieri, whose policy of outsourcing labor over the past two decades has led to a huge influx of skilled foreign workers, mainly from Bangladesh. The cheaper labor force of immigrants far exceeds that of Italians, especially during peak periods of construction of huge cruise ships.
Monfalcone's Bangladeshi community has been further energized by relatives arriving through a family reunification policy, which Cisint is keen to limit, and by their Italian-born children.
Today, the community makes up 6,600 of Monfalcone's total 9,400 foreign-born residents, according to figures provided by Cisint during an interview with the Observer.
Immigration has changed the makeup of the city. There is an array of foreign-owned shops and restaurants, and a network of cycle paths used mainly by Bangladeshis, whose bicycles are their main mode of transport.
"Without the contribution of the foreign community, Monfalcone would become a ghost town," said Enrico Bullian, a left-wing councilor for the wider Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.
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Cisint, a politician backed by Matteo Salvini's League party, and by the Brothers of Italy, the party led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, won an easy re-election in 2022, largely thanks to the anti-immigration ticket that forced the takeover of the country. Italy is far right.
One of her first policies was to remove the benches from the main square, reportedly because they were mainly used by immigrants. Cisint tried to limit the number of foreign children in schools, while cricket, popular among Bangladeshis, was removed from the sports festival. Last summer she banned Muslim women from wearing burkinis on the beach.
But it was Cisint's prayer ban in November, which also applies to a second Islamic cultural center in the city, that resonated most.
"It has had a huge impact," says Konate, an engineer who has lived in Italy for 40 years. "We have been praying peacefully here for more than twenty years. But this wasn't just a place for prayer - people came to meet and chat. Children came for after-school lessons. There are many Islamic cultural centers throughout Europe where you can pray, and no one prevents that."
Cisint claimed that the Muslims had violated planning regulations because the property was intended for commercial use and not for worship. Security was another factor, she said, after citizens sent her photos showing "hundreds of people" entering.
"I didn't say, 'Close and you can't pray,'" Cisint told the newspaper Observer. "The space was used in a distorted way - it was a mosque. They must respect the laws."
The ban follows a proposal by Meloni's Brothers of Italy for the nationwide closure of hundreds of Muslim prayer rooms that are not in mosques. Asked to comment on "the situation in Monfalcone" at a press conference in early January, Meloni, who has long spoken out against the "Islamization" in Europe, said: "Those who choose to live in Italy must follow Italian standards to respect."
Konate said that Monfalcone's Muslims have always respected the laws, evidenced by the city's extremely low crime rate, and that the mayor's motive was to restrict their Italian constitutional right to pray.
But after years of passively living with the antagonism, he said the ban marked a "turning point."
On December 23, an estimated 8,000 people protested against this measure and against Cisint's anti-Islam campaign, which many believe is being used to raise her profile in the hope of running in the June European elections.
The Muslim community is also appealing the prayer ban at the regional administrative court. "For the first time we said 'we have to defend ourselves,'" said Konate, who like many Muslims in Monfalcone is an Italian citizen.
Cisint said the exponential growth of the foreign-born population has put a strain on Monfalcone's social services. But she has no problem with the city's other important foreign community: the Romanians. "They come, they integrate and they respect Italian norms," she said.
Cisint recites a list of stereotypes about Muslims, such as women being forced to wear face coverings and walking behind men. She claims she has done a lot for the community, including building more schools "because they are having so many babies." She accuses Muslims of not wanting to learn Italian, and if they do, the main goal is to obtain citizenship.
But during an Italian class taught by volunteers, a Muslim woman said it was difficult to find places in the classes run by the authority. Her teacher, Cinzia Benussi, said: "It seems like everything is being done to make life difficult for the people of Bangladesh."
Amid the tensions, a women's group made up of native and foreign-born Italians has emerged to bridge the divide caused by Cisint's policies.
Nahida Akhter, a 27-year-old student and daughter of a Fincantieri worker who has lived in Monfalcone since childhood, said at a recent meeting: "It is important that this group exchanges ideas and helps shape the opinions of those who are fixated on the same prejudices."
Fulvia Taucer, a financial advisor, added: "There has never been a problem with this community... Monfalcone is everyone's home."
