A couple was allegedly physically assaulted by a Malaysian national for kissing and walking hand-in-hand near a former Islamic centre in Rome’s Esquilino quarter.

The man and woman were walking past the Islamic centre on Via San Vito, which had closed in February, holding hands and exchanging kisses when the 24-year-old Malaysian launched first a verbal, then a physical, attack, reports La Repubblica.

“You can not kiss in front of the mosque!” he shouted at the couple before pushing over the young woman and then launching an assault on her 27-year-old boyfriend, kicking and punching him.

A Carabiniere, a member of the Italian paramilitary police, arrived at the scene and was also attacked and slightly injured by the Malaysian.

The attacker was arrested for assault and for resisting arrest.

Italian media reports that further investigations are underway to clarify whether the aggressor belongs to radicalised elements.

The leader of a German Sharia Patrol has been jailed for sending money and night-vision goggles to a terror group https://t.co/2cEZQPaU9l — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 27, 2017

The illegal mosque, the Hil Ful Fuzul Bengali Association, had been closed due to health and safety irregularities and after it was found that a nursery was operating in the building. Agents found a dozen children aged between four and 11 months old being looked after by pre-school workers in the cellar.

Across Europe, ‘shariah police’ operate in Muslim-majority neighbourhoods to enforce Islamic morality on Muslims and non-Muslims.

In 2013, three members of a self-styled “Muslim patrol” who harassed passers-by for holding hands, drinking alcohol, and wearing short skirts, were jailed for trying to enforce shariah law in East London.

The Old Bailey heard how the group of Islamists told a couple to stop holding hands because they were in a “Muslim area”, attacked a group of men who were drinking outside, and told a woman she would face “hellfire” because of the way she was dressed.

In Germany, Islamist gangs are using violence and intimidation to enforce shariah law in Hamburg and against Chechen-origin women in Berlin.

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