Italian media is reporting on plans for a new mosque located in a former warehouse in the northern Italian city of Trento that is apparently sponsored by an organization linked to the global Muslim Brotherhood. According to one report:
The warehouse, which belonged until a few months ago to the Music Center spa, occupies an area of approximately 500 square meters. The draft presented to the municipality provided for a partial restructuring, but also the redistribution of spaces. On the one hand, the library, then some of the rooms where the lessons will be conducted on Arab culture – both Italians and foreigners – and a meeting room for about 200 seats. In recent months the police have carried out the survey to assess the change of use From business to the cultural center requested by the Islamic community. [Aboulkheir] Breigeche, chairman of the Islamic community of Trentino – South Tyrol issued a ‘no comment’, but did not deny the purchase. On the other hand it has long been known that the Islamic community werethemselves looking for a place to gather and be able to teach Arab culture, even to children born in Italy. The project is opposed by the Northern League, which claims its role as a “sentinel of the territory.”
Other reports indicate that the projected was aided by funds collected by the local Catholic church.
Aboulkheir Breigeche is part of the leadership of the Associazione Della Cultura Ed Educazione Islamica In Italia which is the Italian member of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), the umbrella group for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. The plans to build not only a mosque but a cultural center as well appears to be consistent with efforts by Muslim Brotherhood organizations in other countries to facilitate similar projects. A previous post reported that a Berlin local government had rejected plans for construction of a 4800 square meter Berlin mosque and culture complex sponsored by an Islamic association linked to the FIOE organization in Germany. Opponents of that project report that their opposition was largely based on the multi-use nature of the proposed project which they believed would lead to an “Islamic enclave” within their neighborhood. Opposition to mosque projects in Europe tends to attract a mix of concern citizens as well as far-right groups.
(Note: translated source)