Updated | Muslim community calls on authorities to grant permits for places of worship

Malta Muslim Council Foundation calls on authorities to help it find suitable premises

Some 400 Muslims gathered in Msida for Friday prayers this afternoon, as the Malta Muslim Council Foundation called on the authorities to assist it in finding a suitable venue.

In a brief statement to the press, the council’s spokesperson Bader Zina explained that the community had no other option but to gather in the centrally located garden in Msida after being evicted from four meeting places, “without adequate reasons.”

Talking to MaltaToday following the peaceful gathering, Zina said that the Malta Muslim Council Foundation, which represents a small but diverse minority of Muslims in Malta, "had difficulties in acquiring premises that can be used as gathering for place of worship that could cater especially for Friday prayers in different localities.”

He said that the community made up of hundreds of Muslims are holding Friday prayers in public in full respect of the law. However, “we are fully aware that this is not the proper solution to the issue,” Zina added.