Friday prayers continue in town square despite warning

For three years, Muslims in Badalona have been using a central square to hold their Friday prayers despite the objections of the local town hall.

Some 500 worshippers, the majority of Pakistani origin, who meet in the city's Camarón de la Isla square once a week, were told earlier this week by Badalona Mayor Xavier García Albiol of the Popular Party that they must seek some other alternative.

It was the second time he had issued such a warning. "I spoke with them six months ago," Albiol said, "and I told them that they must find another solution, but they have not done so."

Now, says the mayor, the men must move - the city has plans to upgrade the square's sports field as part of an urban beautification scheme in that part of the city.

"I am not looking for conflict," the mayor said. "The most comfortable thing would be to leave things as they have been over the past three years, but that would be irresponsible of me."

While many of the worshippers reside in Badalona, others travel to the Sant Roc neighborhood where the square is located from neighboring towns such as Santa Coloma de Gramanet and Sant Adrià del Besòs.