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Italian mayor tells Muslims to stop bathing fully clothed at beach

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

19 Jul, 2023

Mayor of seaside town says swimming fully dressed is "unacceptable".

A mayor in northern Italy has criticised the practice of "Muslim foreigners" bathing fully clothed on beaches as "unacceptable", claiming it creates "intolerable consequences" for preserving decorum.

Anna Maria Cisint, the mayor of Monfalcone in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, wrote an open letter to the local Muslim community, Italian media reports.

In the letter published on Wednesday, Cisint said that "those who come from different situations than ours are obliged to respect the rules and customs that apply in the Italian and local context."

Cisint, of the right-wing Lega party, claims that bathers entering the water fully dressed causes "bewilderment" on the popular tourist beach of Marina Julia in the Gorizia area.

The practice of bathing "in clothing other than swimsuits must cease", Cisint warned, adding that "forms of 'Islamisation' of our territory cannot be accepted".

Earlier in July a pool party designed exclusively for Muslim women near Monza in northern Italy was cancelled by the owners of the venue after Lega MEP Isabella Tovaglieri slammed the event as "an example of Islamisation" and "the segregation of women".