Last December we posted a report about a clandestine mosque in Milan situated in a basement under an apartment building with an entrance down the stairs from a parking lot. Eight months later, the mosque is still there, only it’s no longer really clandestine: there is a sign (in English) on the wall above the stairs announcing its presence.

The following video shows Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Northern League in Italy, taking a group of reporters and interested citizens to the mosque.

Many thanks to FouseSquawk for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:00 Good day, good day, friends directly from Via Cavalcanti, illegal mosque in Milan,

00:06 the nth case of irregularity exposed to the sunlight. The residents called us,

00:11 business people, mothers and fathers, worried because beneath the stairs there are up to hundreds

00:15 of people; it seems that there are even children in a clandestine Islamic school.

00:19 Now we are going to take you inside. We will show you what life is like in a quarter of Milan

00:23 on the edge of reality, totally irregular, identified, reported.

00:28 It is a storage area, without permanent residents, that has been turned into a mosque,

00:32 a religious center, a school, they sleep here, they eat here, Who knows what they do.?

00:35 and they [community leaders] obviously don’t care.

00:40 …You see, we are in the center of Milan. Here there are citizens,

00:44 here there are buildings and offices of the area.

00:48 This is… Now together with some residents, we accompany them inside. I leave the management.

00:54 Go, Go, [unintelligible] and follow —We go? —We’ll put it later. —OK

00:59 Later — OK, Let’s go inside. Go…

01:09 We’re going in… On the side, no…on the side. —We are entering the illegal mosque…

01:16 in Via Cavalcanti with Matteo Salvini, also Milanese [unintelligible]

01:20 Regional Assessor Bordonali, municipal Samuel Fucina [?]

01:25 and citizen commissar Fabrizio Cecchetti.

01:29 So many citizens [unintelligible] Here we are;

01:33 there are also [unintelligible] of angry Milanese.

01:42 “No illegal mosques”

01:47 There are also Milanese…Now we are entering to see what is happening

01:54 in a Milan basement where there is an illegal mosque.

02:00 [unintelligible] so many citizens… and so many journalists.

02:07 [unintelligible]

02:17 In this… In this courtyard, in a basement where we are going

02:23 now to see [unintelligible] of Milan. During prayer times

02:27 [unintelligible] some hundreds — some hundreds

02:30 of Muslims praying in a completely unlawful way.

02:34 We are in the interior [courtyard]) of a building, of a private building.

02:39 You will ask, ‘Where is the mosque?

02:43 And here it is not seen. Where is the unlawful religious place,

02:46 where hundreds of people enter, violating every rule, and in a moment, we will see.

02:57 One moment. There are also citizens. There. Excuse me.

03:05 There the mystery, the mosque is here below.

03:10 Here is where the unlawful mosque is, and here is where… the residents

03:18 explain to us…

03:21 If you push we change —Who has the key? —Me.

03:26 Here is also the citizen for the key, that I imagine is not…

03:30 We’ll take a walk around. [unintelligible]

03:35 Imagine here, down these stairs, hundreds of people go to pray

03:40 without any authorization.

03:52 Matteo, this way.

03:57 Thank you, Thank you.

04:00 Now we’ll go to the boiler room because [unintelligible]

04:08 So many, so many inspectors directly…

04:15 You see an absolutely normal building and you also imagine the dangerous conditions.

04:22 If there were a fire or collapse, the hundreds and hundreds of citizens

04:27 who, I repeat, here downstairs at the bottom of this stairwell,

04:31 meet so many, many, many times to pray. and perhaps to do other [things].

04:40 Let’s go.

04:43 Now we’re going to look for another entrance to this mosque.

04:46 Therefore, that small dark room is where they enter and leave.

04:51 Therefore, [unintelligible]security. [unintelligible] fire…

04:56 Matteo, We can’t all enter there in the basement.

05:02 Then we just go. —[unintelligible] —We’ll just go

05:08 Where? —Attention.

05:11 The others here. Nobody enters. —Matteo. —Hi. — Hi.

05:15 Two minutes —Thanks. —I thank you. Here nobody enters.

05:18 We’ll go in and come out in two minutes.

05:21 Matteo Salvini, for the interest… And now, we are covering where

05:25 there is another entry to this unlawful mosque.

05:30 So, you see the condominium [unintelligible] this way,

05:36 [unintelligible], under the stairway

05:42 Citizens [residents] hope desperate…

05:47 Here there is another storage area [unintelligible]

05:51 in an apartment and used by South Americans [unintelligible]

05:56 …Via Cavalcanti…