“You are no longer welcome”: a pig’s head left in front of a mosque in Italy

A pig’s head and a hostile message: this is what the faithful discovered on Sunday November 1 in front of the Islamic Cultural Center in Morbegno, in northern Italy. An investigation has been opened to identify the perpetrators of this act of intimidation.

The faithful came to pray in this place used for several years as a mosque, in the province of Sondrio, in Lombardy. At the entrance, a white sheet bore this inscription: “You are no longer welcome. » A severed pig’s head had been placed at his foot. Alerted by the faithful, the carabinieri intervened with forensic specialists to carry out the measurements. The investigations are carried out under the authority of the Sondrio public prosecutor’s office.

The day before, anti-Semitic inscriptions had also been discovered in Talamona, a neighboring town. According to the local press, the first elements of the investigation exclude at this stage a link between the two cases. Beyond the religious offense, the message targets the very place of Muslims in their city. Telling the faithful that they are no longer welcome in front of their place of prayer is trying to intimidate them in their daily lives. This act reminds us how freedom of worship also depends on a very concrete thing: being able to come and pray without being afraid.