{"id":15037,"date":"2016-05-18T07:04:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T07:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=15037"},"modified":"2016-05-18T07:04:38","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T07:04:38","slug":"is-ankawa-turning-into-another-las-vegas-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/05\/18\/is-ankawa-turning-into-another-las-vegas-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians concerned about Muslim illegal  gambling premises in Ankawa &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Christians concerned about Muslim illegal \u00a0gambling premises and alcohol shops<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of Iraqi Christians have been organising protests in Ankawa against an alarming new phenomenon that is making everyday life even more depressing in the city suburbs where they now live.<\/p>\n<p>Protesters handed over a petition to a representative of the governor of Erbil with a list of specific demands to the local administrative authorities. They are asking for decisive action to resolve the current unacceptable situation and prevent it escalating into an emergency.<\/p>\n<p>In the city of Erbil, capital of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, a plague of often illegal and unlicensed entertainment venues has spread all over the Christian part of town. These include shops selling alcohol, discos, casinos, gambling establishments and \u201cmassage parlours\u201d that are really a front for prostitution.<\/p>\n<p>Data provided by the local Ministry of Tourism shows that in the only suburb of Ankawa where various Christian communities\u00a0 &#8211; \u00a0Chaldeans, Syrians and Assyrians &#8211; live, \u00a013 new unlicensed shops for the sale of alcohol have opened recently.<\/p>\n<p>The reason why these unlicensed premises are spreading so rapidly\u00a0 is directly related to the economic crisis. The volume of business generated by nightclubs and massage parlours &#8211; even illegal ones- is the only one that continues to grow, along with the trade in weapons.<\/p>\n<p>So who is funding these unlicensed and often illegal venues?<\/p>\n<p>A local source revealed that Muslim \u00a0Kurds living in the \u00a0high areas of Erbil where the sale of alcohol is banned and there is no nightlife are responsible for\u00a0 funding these undesirable and often illegal premises offering alcohol , gambling and sex, which are \u00a0turning Christian suburbs of Ankawa into the &#8216;Las Vegas&#8217; of Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>The administrative control authorities in the governorate of Erbil do carry out interventions from time to time against gambling, unlicensed alcohol shops and prostitution. These are often done in response to \u00a0periodic complaints of Muslim religious representatives. However, these episodic initiatives \u00a0have proved ineffective in stemming the tide of illegal venues which threatens to take over the whole Christian sector.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>ACN Malta<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christians concerned about Muslim illegal \u00a0gambling premises and alcohol shops &nbsp; Hundreds of Iraqi Christians have been organising protests in Ankawa against an alarming new phenomenon that is making everyday life even more depressing in the city suburbs where they now live. Protesters handed over a petition to a representative of the governor of Erbil&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christians concerned about Muslim illegal gambling premises in Ankawa - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/05\/18\/is-ankawa-turning-into-another-las-vegas-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christians concerned about Muslim illegal gambling premises in Ankawa - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christians concerned about Muslim illegal \u00a0gambling premises and alcohol shops &nbsp; Hundreds of Iraqi Christians have been organising protests in Ankawa against an alarming new phenomenon that is making everyday life even more depressing in the city suburbs where they now live. 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