President to meet St Paul’s Bay councillors over refused mosque

The President of the Republic Marie Louise Coleiro Preca has requested a meeting with the councillors of St Paul’s Bay to discuss their decision not to approve a planning permit for a small mosque.

The meeting will be held Tuesday afternoon at the Presidential residence in San Anton, and will include the Muslim community.

The Office of the President confirmed that the President had requested a meeting, to promote unity in a serene environment.

"The President is offering a space for dialogue," Coleiro Preca's office said.

The seaside locality is home to countless bars, restaurants and hotels, and thanks to the low rents it probably is the most ethnically diverse locality in Malta. 

While thousands of tourists spend their time in in the various pubs and karaoke bars in Bugibba and Qawra, the diversity of this large locality has not hindered the council in objecting to a planning application for the conversion of a garage into a Muslim prayer room: the decision was unanimous because, according to the council, this will have a detrimental effect on residents and the tourism industry. 

Mayor Graziella Galea said the council unanimously agreed to oppose the permit, because the proposed prayer room was inadequate for worship, and would create a hindrance to public order and increase problems of parking space.

Claiming that the prayers are “illegal”, Galea said that the council has filed an official police report to stop the Muslim prayers from taking place in the premises in Triq il-Mazzola in Bugibba.

During the council meeting, a representative from the Malta Muslim Council Foundation (MMCF), Bader Zeina, urged all parties to come together and find a solution. 

However, speaking to MaltaToday, Galea said that this was not the council’s responsibility and she called on the authorities to find an alternative premises for the Muslim community. 

Speaking to this newspaper, Zeina said that the Muslim community in the area has grown to such an extent that they had to split them and hold two different praying sessions to accommodate everyone. 

“Right now we need to cater for some 400 people in St Paul’s Bay,” Zeina said, adding that the MMCF was doing its utmost to find a solution.

“People ask why we do not purchase a property or a plot to build a place of worship but this is the second time a local council objected to a planning application for a change of use of a building into a prayer hall. We cannot make big financial commitments without having a guarantee that the permit will be issued, especially since we completely rely on donations,” Zeina said.