A small Italian town has banned cricket. Reason? The mayor believes that it is putting the cultural essence of Monfalcone in danger, a BBC report says. Monfalcone is home to just over 30,000 people and one-third of them are foreigners, the majority of them being Bangladeshi Muslims. They reached the town in the 1990s to build giant cruise ships.

If you are caught playing cricket in the town, you can be fined up to €100 ($111).

Mayor Anna Maria Cisint says that she needs to “protect” her town and Christian values. Notably, a strong anti-immigration sentiment helped her come back to power.

“Our history is being erased. It’s like it doesn’t matter anymore. Everything is changing for the worse,” Cisint told BBC. 

The mayor is known for having anti-Muslim sentiments. She has removed the benches in the town square which were used by Bangladeshis to sit. She has also spoken out against the attire worn by Muslim women at the beach. Cisint has also received death threats for her views.

She contends that the balls are dangerous and can cause injury. Besides, the mayor adds, there is no place or money to build a pitch. 

She told the publication that she is not ready to allow Bangladeshis the right to play their national sport. Cisint further contends that they offer “nothing in return”.

“They’ve given nothing to this city, to our community. Zero. They are free to go and play cricket anywhere else… outside of Monfalcone.”

People from the South Asian country here build ships at the Fincantieri shipyard – the biggest in Europe. The mayor accuses the company of paying much lower wages than the market level, mostly to foreign workers, since Italians would never do the same work for that kind of salary.

However, director of the shipyard, Cristiano Bazzarra, told BBC that salaries and contractors are as per the Italian law. He adds that it is hard to find people in Europe to work at shipyards.

Other measures taken by Anna Maria Cisint against the Muslims in the town have caused an uproar. She believes that the Bangladeshi Muslim community’s way of life is “incompatible” with the life of native-born Italians. 

Citing urban planning regulations, she in effect banned collective prayers at the two Islamic centres. She says there are “bikes on pavements, loud prayers five times a day, sometimes even at night”, with 1,900 people packed in just one building during these prayers. She says this is unfair to local residents.

“The mayor thinks that Bengalis are trying to Islamify Italy – but we are just minding our own business,” 19-year-old Meheli, originally from Dhaka but brought up in Italy, told BBC.

Another Bangladeshi, Miah Bappy, says that if their community went back to Bangladesh, “it would take the shipyard five years to build a single ship”.