Latest news with #Elma Saiz
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
A Spanish town's ban on religious gatherings in sports centers becomes a flashpoint
MADRID (AP) — Spain's government on Friday criticized a ban enacted in a southeastern town that prohibits religious gatherings in public sports centers, a measure that will mainly affect members of the town's Muslim community who in recent years have used the spaces to celebrate religious holidays. The ban — approved last week by the conservative local government of Jumilla, a town of 27,000 — has since become a flashpoint. Its critics, including Spain's leftwing national government, have condemned the measure as discriminatory while some on the right are celebrating it as a means to uphold the nation's Christian culture. Spain's Migration Minister Elma Saiz said on Friday the ban was 'shameful,' and urged local leaders to 'take a step back' and apologize to local residents. Saiz told Spain's Antena 3 broadcaster that the measure is 'attacking and harming people, citizens who have been living for decades in our towns, in our cities, in our country, contributing and perfectly integrated without any problems of coexistence.' The ban is the latest controversy involving Spain's hot-button issues of immigration and multi-culturalism, following clashes last month in the southern Murcia region between far-right groups and local residents and migrants. They erupted after an elderly resident in the town of Torre-Pacheco was beaten up by assailants believed to be of Moroccan origin, which prompted far-right groups to call for retribution on the area's large migrant population. Conservative officials in Jumilla, an agriculture-based economy of rolling vineyards, olive and almond trees, defended the ban on Friday. The town's mayor Seve González told Spain's El País newspaper that the measure did not single out any one group and that her government's wanted to 'promote cultural campaigns that defend our identity.' The measure was initially proposed by the far-right Vox party and then amended and approved by the center-right Popular Party, to which the mayor belongs. It stipulates that municipal sports facilities — where the town's Muslim community has held religious celebrations — cannot be used for cultural, social or religious activities unrelated to the city council. Mohamed El Ghaidouni, secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain that represents more than 900 Muslim communities in the country, called the ban 'institutionalized Islamophobia.' He criticized the local government's justification for the motion and its allegation that two main Muslim festivals traditionally celebrated in the sports centers — Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, or 'Feast of the Sacrifice' — were 'foreign to the town's identity.' The ban, he added, 'clashes with the institutions of the Spanish state' that protect religious freedom. Vox's branch in the Murcia region celebrated it, saying Wednesday on X that 'Spain is and always will be a land of Christian roots!' 'We must protect public spaces from practices foreign to our culture and our way of life,' the party's leader Santiago Abascal wrote Friday, adding that 'Spain is not Al Andalus,' referencing the historic name for Islamic Spain. For centuries, Spain was ruled by Muslims, whose influence is present both in the Spanish language and in many of the country's most celebrated landmarks, including Granada's famed Moorish Alhambra Palace. Islamic rule ended in 1492 when the last Arab kingdom in Spain fell to the Catholics. Right-wing governments elsewhere in Europe have passed measures similar to the ban in Jumilla, striking at the heart of ongoing debates about nationalism and religious pluralism. Last year in Monfalcone, a large industrial port city in northeastern Italy with a significant Bangladeshi immigrant population, its far-right mayor, Anna Maria Cisint, banned prayers outside of places of worship. The move led to protests involving some 8,000 people. The city's Muslim community is appealing the ban in a regional court. ___ Associated Press writer Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Spanish Officials Condemn City's Ban on Religious Events as ‘Racist'
The Spanish government on Thursday condemned a ban enacted by a city in southeastern Spain on religious celebrations from civic sports facilities, which critics have called a veiled effort to block Muslims from gathering there for religious holidays. The ban was codified as a local law on July 28 by conservative leaders in Jumilla, a city with about 27,000 residents. As it gained attention this week, it quickly became a national point of contention — touching on issues that have consumed countries around Europe, like immigration and nationalism. Far-right demonstrators and police officers clashed for days in another town in the same Spanish region last month, leading to the arrest of the leader of an anti-immigrant group. The measure in Jumilla says that city sports facilities cannot be used for 'cultural, social or religious activities unrelated to the City Council' and stipulates that its goal is to 'promote and preserve the traditional values and manifestations of our cultural identity.' Officials in the national government have denounced the ban, with Elma Saiz, Spain's minister of inclusion, social security and migration, calling it 'an absolutely racist motion.' Spain's Constitution protects 'freedom of worship, respect and nondiscrimination on religious grounds,' she said in an interview with a state-owned broadcaster, Televisión Española. Another top official, Félix Bolaños, called the measure 'contrary to the Constitution.' Members of the Popular Party, the conservative party that approved the ban, have rejected those accusations. 'It is false that the Popular Party is going to single anyone out for their beliefs,' Jaime de los Santos, a top official in the national party, told reporters on Thursday. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
