The Spanish government ordered the town of Jumilla to drop its ban on religious gatherings in public sports centers on Monday, asserting that the measure disproportionately affects the town’s Muslim community, which has long used the facilities to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
The government gave the town’s council one month to formally respond to its request. Failure to do so could lead to additional legal challenges under Article 16 of Spain’s Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom.
The ban was proposed by the far-right Vox party following the assault of an elderly resident who claimed his attackers were from Morocco. The incident prompted far-right groups to call for retribution against the region’s large immigrant population and triggered a social media backlash over the assault. Last week, the measure was approved by the conservative local government.
The conservative People’s Party supported Vox’s proposal, arguing that the ban did not target any specific religion or belief and emphasized that 72 nationalities coexist in the town without issue. Mayor Seve González told El País that the council aimed to “promote cultural campaigns” to defend “our identity” and protect “the values and religious expressions of our country.”
In response, Migration Minister Elma Saiz wrote on X that the remarks were “utterly ignorant,” adding, “It overlooks that we would not be the country we are today if we could not appreciate the contribution of Muslim culture to our language, our works of art, advances in architecture, and civil engineering.”
Ministers have described the ban as discriminatory and a violation of the right to freedom of religion, noting that of Jumilla’s 27,000 town inhabitants, around 1,500 are Muslims known to use these facilities for their religious festivals.
The Catholic Church also condemned the ban, describing it as discriminatory and a violation of the right to religious freedom. Additionally, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain stated to the news agency Europa Press that the measure represented a “serious democratic setback.”
