Mayor Venturini denies ever having offered any openness toward the Bangladeshi community: “I never promised my support: but I won’t accept blackmail from the Bangladeshis.” The Patriarch is trying to mend the rift, but the two sides’ positions have grown far apart.
By Marta Artico
August 27, 2026
The dispute over a possible mosque for the Bangladeshi community in Mestre has broken into open conflict between Mayor Simone Venturini, who has come out against building a Muslim house of worship on Via Giustizia, and the Bangladeshi community, which is threatening to peacefully block the city. As political parties tear into each other, the Patriarch is trying to mend the rift and is urging both sides to lay down their weapons. However, the two sides’ positions have grown far apart.
The mayor denies there was ever any openness shown toward the Bangladeshi group that purchased the property on Via Giustizia, and – at the Lega’s insistence – has restricted the city’s tolerance for houses of worship, triggering a backlash from the community. Speaking for that community, Prince Howlader announced Tuesday that a peaceful demonstration is being planned, though a date has not yet been set. Venturini didn’t mince words: “Mestre doesn’t need a big mosque with some grandiose design. We could possibly discuss a few houses of worship, some of which already exist in part, but they can in no way be used to hold the city hostage.”
The Controversy Reignites
The controversy that defined the entire election campaign – and whose aftershocks never fully subsided – has flared up again, more intensely than before. The Lega and Fratelli d’Italia have called on the mayor to make good on his campaign pledge, namely the promise that he would take a hard line against the Bangladeshi community’s ambitions. Think back to the anti-mosque ad campaign on buses and vaporetti and the anti-Islam banners before the election.
Venice’s Patriarch, Francesco Moraglia, stepped in to cool tempers and prevent the situation from fueling hatred or hardening into polarized camps: “We are facing a sensitive issue that touches on a fundamental aspect of life in this city and for its residents. It is my hope that there will be no forcing of the issue, and that a constructive dialogue can be established between the City, the community, and the Bangladeshi Muslim community, so that common ground can be found, and, where possible, so that we can work together to meet the need for a place of worship while knowing and respecting the laws, history, and culture of the place where one lives. It is urgent that we build mutual understanding and trust. And that can happen through an objective and widespread process of integration.”
Lega Member of the European Parliament Anna Maria Cisint, a leading voice in the fight, who showed up on Via Giustizia during the end-of-Ramadan celebration, said: “Good for the mayor of Venice’s position. Thanks in part to our firm contribution, he has confirmed that no authorization will be granted for a new mosque. We said it clearly: until there are clear rules and full respect for our laws, our values, and our culture, no space can be granted to those who aspire to build free zones within Italy.”
Following her lead is Fratelli d’Italia’s regional coordinator, Raffaele Speranzon, deputy floor leader for Fratelli d’Italia in the Senate, who had made contact with Prince Howlader himself early in the campaign before putting plenty of distance between them.
The Reactions
The community is going on the offensive, producing documents it had quietly been asked not to make public back in the spring, including the request for a zoning variance filed by the architect on behalf of the sawmill’s [the property purchased by the Bangladeshi community, Ed.] then-owner, and pointing to meetings held with Venturini himself – who was a city councilman at the time and is now mayor, hand-picked by his predecessor, Luigi Brugnaro – to push the cultural center project forward after the election.
“The mayor,” Howlader shot back, alongside Nazmul Haque, secretary of Youth for Peace, “made it clear during a meeting a few days ago that the zoning variance request wouldn’t pass because he doesn’t have enough votes on the council. He proposed we build a temporary structure with a few restrooms instead, and made it clear he’s worried about the rise of the so-called ‘Vannacci supporters,’ effectively putting everything off until after the elections.” He added: “We’re open to dialogue, and we always have been. We want rights for women.”
The Democratic Party’s Andrea Martella is demanding accountability from Venturini: “On a delicate and complex issue like the mosque, is Venturini telling Venetians the truth? That’s the political and institutional question the mayor needs to answer, and quickly. Because the documents and reporting coming out right now paint a very different picture than the purely ideological one presented during the campaign. There was a plan under the previous administration, there were discussions underway, there was an administrative process in motion, and former mayor Brugnaro had made commitments to the Bangladeshi community. Worse still: it was Venturini himself, it turns out, who was handling the matter. How can he keep denying involvement in something he was personally overseeing?”
He didn’t stop there: “On this whole affair, the center-right has played a murky game, poisoning the atmosphere with distortions and falsehoods, trying to juggle deals that have already been made, political embarrassment, electoral convenience, and propaganda all at once. Has Venturini lied to the people of Venice?”
Daniele Giordano, general secretary of the CGIL labor union in Venice, piled on: “No trading faith for rights: the rule of law applies to everyone, regardless of religious belief. Let’s reopen dialogue and avoid strikes that could divide workers. The trade-off currently being proposed – civil order in exchange for concessions regarding freedom of worship – is unworthy of a city and a state whose constitution enshrines religious freedom as an inviolable right.”
Source: La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre
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