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Hundreds of Muslims prayed in front of Rome’s Colosseum on Friday in protest at the closure of unofficial mosques.
They called on city authorities to protect their religious rights and demanded legal status for prayer rooms in a country where only a small number of mosques are officially registered.
Francesco Terri, a spokesman for the Lazio Muslim Association, said the community wanted urgent legal regulation to allow Italy’s 1.6 million Muslims to worship at officially recognized mosques.
Most worship takes place in houses and Islamic cultural centres.