Italian villagers object to Muslim graves

RIGUTINO, Italy, May 10 (UPI) -- Residents of an Italian village are fighting a plan to reserve 10 grave sites for Muslims in their cemetery.

More than 500 people in Rigutino in Tuscany have already signed a petition seeking to reverse the village council decision to set aside space, the news agency Ansa reported. Opponents say non-residents should not be allowed to have reserved space in the graveyard.

Rigutino and another village nearby, San Leo, have the only graveyards near the city of Arezzo with space available for Muslim immigrants. Muslim religious practice requires burial as soon as possible after death, with the body interred directly in the earth without a coffin and with the head pointing toward Mecca.

In Rigutino, an ad hoc committee opposing the Muslim graves has also asked the local bishop to intervene.