In a note sent to newsrooms on April 8, the Faro district of the Chega party issues a warning: PS and PSD are “cooking” a joint measure that they are “preparing to approve at the Faro Municipal Assembly on April 29”.
At issue is the alleged donation of land valued at more than one million euros (1,347,000 euros) to the Islamic community in the region. According to Chega, the space measuring around two thousand square meters should be used for the construction of “a mosque and probably a Islamic cemetery. The party also accuses members of the community of refusing to “bury their dead alongside the ‘unclean’” and suggests that a referendum be held.
The question that the people of Faro would have to answer would be the following: “Do you agree that the Municipal Council of Faro donate the right to surface for the construction of a mosque to be carried out by the CIF – Faro Islamic Center?” We will probably never know the answers.
To Polígrafo, the social-democratic municipality led by Rogério Bacalhau completely denies that it is preparing to donate the land. “No proposal of this nature was approved at a Chamber Meeting, so it will not be voted on, nor could it be, at a Municipal Assembly”, guarantees the office.
Regarding the destination of the land, the municipality states that, although it does not have any pre-defined use, “the portion of land in question should be intended for the construction of a collective use equipment“.
The CIF itself had already, in statements to the local newspaper “Sul Informação”, criticized Chega’s political use of the construction of a mosque in the Algarve capital. According to Ossama Solayman, community leader, “there isn’t even a defined location yet” and that the request for help made to the CMF was to “put Faro on the map, given the Islamic heritage of the Algarve”. As for Chega, Solayman accuses the party of “making a sharp, shameful attack on people who work in Portugal and who live here”.
The ordinary session of the Municipal Assembly of Faro on April 26th did not bring any news: no measure was approved – despite the expressed concern of some residents – and the mayor himself recalled that the city already has a mosque, which serves as a place for daily prayer. for “hundreds of people”.
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Tags: Faro City Council preparing donate land worth million euros construction mosque Islamic cemetery
