Updated | Labour suggests fake mosque application linked to Zonqor campus fear campaign

The Labour Party has suggested that a fabricated MEPA planning site notice is linked to a “fear campaign” against the proposed university campus at Bormla’s Dock No. 1 and Zonqor Point in Marsaskala, to be constructed by Jordanian group Sadeen.

In a statement, the PL repeated MEPA’s early statement that the notice to convert the Rialto cinema in Cospicua into a mosque was fabricated.

“Coincidentally, the notice has been implanted in the midst of an ongoing fear campaign against the American University of Malta,” the PL said, referring to Sadeen’s controversial project that has so far only been licensed as a higher education institution.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in January accused PN leader Simon Busuttil of instructing party representatives to warn residents of Cospicua and Marsaskala – where the institute will be housed – that the project will result in their localities getting swamped by “blacks and Arabs”.

“On the ground, the PN is trying to ride the wave of xenophobic and racist sentiment, even claiming that the project will also include a mosque,” Muscat said. “If Busuttil is a man, he should personally make those claims himself.”

Earlier, MEPA urged the police to investigate the fabricated development notice, that had proposed to convert the Rialto cinema into a mosque and to add a minoret to its roof.

The planning and environment authority noted that the cinema building has since 2010 been scheduled as a protected national monument.

“The fabricated site notice tried to give the public the impression that a planning application was submitted to MEPA for the change of use of the former theatre into a mosque,” MEPA said. “The Authority has no pending development planning application on site.”