Remember this last week, when the Muslim hordes took over the Gothic church grounds in Milan and performed takbir (expansion) and some akbar? They allegedly apologized --- but they keep on doing it. Islamic imperialism. (photo hat tip Gaia)
Vatican alarmed by Muslims burning Israeli flags outside cathedrals Times Online
The Vatican has expressed alarm over the burning of Israeli flags by Muslims protesting against Israeli actions in Gaza during Muslim prayers staged outside Italian cathedrals
The Vatican has expressed alarm over the burning of Israeli flags by Muslims protesting against Israeli actions in Gaza during Muslim prayers staged outside Italian cathedrals.
However prayers held recently outside the Duomo in Milan and the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, with thousands of prostrate Muslims facing Mecca, had been accompanied by flag burning which was not only anti Israeli but anti Semitic, with protesters carrying banners depicting the Star of David alongside the Nazi swastika. "What matters is the spirit in which one prays - and prayer excludes hate" Cardinal Martino said.
Bishop Ernesto Vecchi, vicar general of the Bologna diocese, said the Muslim prayers were "not just prayers but a challenge, not so much to the basilica itself as to our democratic system and culture". Bishop Vecchi suggested the staging of mass prayers outside Christian churches in Italy was a deliberate move "on orders from afar" as part of a strategy of "Islamisation" of Europe.
Just last week Muslims were kneeling down in prayer in front of Milan's gothic cathedral as they protest Israel ...... it starts with the Jew, the Sunday folks are next.
Hey, I'm Jewish and this makes my skin crawl.
UPDATE: Gaia translated the article in the Italian newspaper for us and adds this note: Bologna is a city which has traditionally had a strong communist administration which has offered land in the centre of town to the muslim community for the construction of a mega mosque and citadel. There is a campaign launched by the local people to prevent this.
March and prayer pro Gaza in centre town
Slogans against Israel, flags burned
It finished with a communal prayer, in Piazza Maggiore, the rally called by the arab community of Bologna in solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza, which for several days has been the scene of military operations by Israel. During the rally in the centre of town, slogans were shown such as “Free Palestine” and “from Bologna to Gaza”, resistance, resistance. An Israeli flag was also burnt.
Said, a 50 year old Egyptian, dentist and resident at Casalecchio di Rena, thanked the authorities for allowing the demonstration and after the prayer explains “we must view the problems of Gaza in the correct way and help the poor Palestinians”. The comment of the local councillor Valerio Monteventi sums up the day: “It is like being at a demonstration in the outskirts of a large arab city, and together with arab rage emerges a reality which we pretend not to know”.
When they concentrated in Piazza Nettuno the demonstrators were around 500. But marching along Via Rizzolo and in front of the City Hall the numbers grew. According to Daniele Parracino, vice president of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Bologna, “we exceeded by some way 2,000 people”.
The great majority were arab men, women and numerous children. There were also faces from the PRC (communists, khomeinists, anti-clerical) , trade unionists. Many muslims are wearing a kefiyah carrying Palestinian flags. Some in the first rows are holding shoes, reminding you of the show thrown by the Iraqi journalist at the American president. Among the banners “silence is complicity” or “women and children under the bombs”. Among the chorus: “Free Palestine, Gaza will win” “Bush and Olmert assassins” and “Allah akbar”. At the head of the march a cardboard coffin, representing the “innocent victims, particularly children”.
In Via Rizzoli an Israeli flag is burned. “I went immediately to put it out” explains Parracini. “I would like to add that this is an action I do not approve of, even if I feel the anger and the pain of the protesters “ one must act with the head not the gut”
" degli autori, continua, "non bisogna reagire con lo stomaco ma con la testa".
Certainly the organizers can speak of a successful demonstration, perhaps even greater than expectations. People from Bologna and surrounding areas arrived, explained Parracini, on a day when similar demonstrations took place in several Italian cities. What is pleasing – says Parracino – is the sensibility of many Italians who are supporting this and who “have a heartfelt desire for all to live in peace”. Among the, Tiziano Loreti, provincial secretary of the PRC who speaks of the “wonderful and determined demonstration”
Faced with “the silence of Europe and particularly Italy, continues Loreti “it is the duty of the Parties of the Left to mobilize in solidarity with Gaza and to work for a solution which leads to the creation of two independent states, for Israelis and Palestinians.
In front of the Town Hall, many people lie down to symbolise the dead in Gaza. Immediately afterwards, Parracini bursts into tears when he receives news of the bombing of a mosque. Then all start their prayers.
It finishes with a communal prayer in Piazza Maggiore . Around 600 muslims place their prayer rugs on the floor and kneel towards Mecca, or in effect towards Palazzo dei Banchi with their back to the Town Hall. Mahdy Said, Imam of Bologna, just outside the door of the Basilica of San Petronio starts the prayer.
