Town hall in Spain may ban Muslim festivals and celebrations from its sports facilities

Far-right nationlist political party Vox is maintaining its pressure in the Murcia region of Spain on the ruling Partido Popular party to apply policies against the religious and cultural manifestations of the Muslim population. The latest example has been set in Jumilla, where the town hall, headed by mayor Severa Gonzáles, has agreed to modify the municipal regulation so that the town's sports facilities can be used "exclusively for sports or events and activities organised by the town hall".

With this change, the town hall will have the power to ban the celebration of Muslim religious traditions, such as the end of Ramadan or Eid al‑Adha, on the grounds of these facilities. Vox presented this request to the PP during the latest municipal plenary session.

The PP adapted Vox's text to ban the use of the sports facilities for any "cultural, social or religious activities outside the town hall", modifying the hard-right's more ideological text, which concerned "foreign practices", in defence of "the customs and traditions of the Spanish people". The initiative went ahead with the only votes in favour of the PP, the abstention of Vox and the opposition of the PSOE and IU-Podemos-AV.

Vox went beyond rejecting the celebration of Eid al‑Adha, which they described as "cultural regression", and demanded the "promotion of traditional Spanish activities and butchery in the face of the expansion of foreign practices such as halal".

The proposal comes just a few weeks after the incidents in Torre Pacheco, in which Vox encouraged protests that ended up leading to a 'hunt' against immigrants by different far-right groups. It also comes right before the approval of the municipal budgets, for which the PP needs at least the abstention of Vox.

Mayor Severa González said that any media that alludes to banning the celebrations of Muslim festivities in any of the town's venues is spreading misinformation. According to González, "absolutely no one has been banned from any kind of religious manifestation". Municipal spokesperson María del Carmen Cruz told the media that "it is illegal to do so and neither Jumilla nor any town council in Spain is going to do it".

Municipal sources said that, until now, the Muslim community in the town had requested the use of the Antonio Ibáñez football pitch for the celebration of its two main festivities eight times. The fee of 17.30 euros per hour, plus a 50% discount for celebrations outside the established hours, has been paid. In addition, the same sources said that there have been no problems during any of the celebrations and that the community had acquired a civil liability insurance and there was an ambulance present, as required.

The news has come as a bit of a shock to the local Muslim community, given that there have never been any issues caused by festivities. Although there are more than 3,000 Muslims living in Jumilla, there are around 1,300 who regularly take part in religious events.

President of the Spanish federation of islamic religious entities (Ferri) Mounir Benjelloun expressed their feelings of disappointment with the actions of the PP and Vox. He denounced the "racism, xenophobia and, above all, Islamophobia" demonstrated by such political decisions and accused them of "putting laws and regulations in place to hinder the exercise of religious freedoms and the fundamental rights enshrined in the Spanish Constitution".