VLAARDINGEN, 01/04/07 - The Ummet Mosque in Vlaardingen is henceforth permitted to use speakers to call Muslims to prayer on Friday afternoons. Part of the Lower House is now considering tightening the law.

Mayor of Vlaardingen Bruinsma sees no grounds for prohibiting the speakers. "The law does not offer scope to deny the mosques permission", as he stated in the Christian newspaper Reformatorisch Dagblad. "After all, churches are also permitted to ring their bells".

A spokesperson for Integration Minister Vogelaar confirmed that all public calls to prayer are permitted, whether from churches or mosques. "But the municipality determines how long and how loud the calls may sound".

Orthodox Christian SGP MP Van der Staaij feels that the Arabic calls to prayer create a climate that has an alienating effect on many citizens. "Should it emerge that the available means to clamp down on this are lacking or insufficient, then the cabinet should provide for this", according to Van der Staaij.

Conservative (VVD) MP Kamp is thinking about supporting Van der Staaij. The Party for Freedom wish to ban the mosque calls anyhow, for the reason that they do not belong in Dutch society, as a spokesperson commented.