Recently I noted that Italy was plagued by a new appearance of
al-Qaeda in an Italian website. Today, one out of three Italians oppose the building of new mosques according to a survey. There are an estimated one million Muslim immigrants in Italy and 258 mosques throughout the country. Rome's Grand Mosque is the biggest mosque in Europe. The survey commissioned by the government and conducted by Italian consultants, Makno Consulting, revealed that 31% of Italians are against the construction of new mosques. The Italians are afraid of intolerance of Catholicism and possible terrorist attacks by Islamists. Interestingly, non-Muslim immigrants showed even less tolerance than their Italian counterparts and 50% of them rejected the idea of opening new mosques. 55% of Italians think that immigration from Islamic countries is the biggest problem. The survey also found that Italians should take precedence over immigrants--legal or illegal0--for social services, schools, nurseries, hospitals and emergency care. Italians desired a greater police presence, a limit on the number of immigrants per classroom in schools, and more frequent checks of mosques, licenses and businesses.
