MADRID: Spain’s government on Friday criticized a ban enacted in a southeastern town that prohibits religious gatherings in public sports centers, a measure that will mainly affect members of the town’s Muslim community who in recent years have used the spaces to celebrate religious holidays. The ban — approved last week by the conservative local government of Jumilla, a town of 27,000 — has since become a flashpoint.

Conservative People’s party in Jumilla votes to stop civic centres and gyms being used for activities ‘alien to our identity’

The controversial ban was passed in Jumilla, a town in the Murcia region with a population of around 27,000 - roughly 7.5 per cent of whom come from mostly Muslim countries.