Sources: Melilla Hoy and Spain public holidays (qppstudio.net). Recall, from our post of July 24, that both the CpM and local Socialist parties had petitioned the government of Spain's autonomous region of Melilla to make the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice, known locally as Pascua del Sacrificio or Aid El Kebir) one of the region's 2 self-determined public holidays in 2008 and more recently for 2009.On Friday, the Governing Council of the autonomous region of Melilla, through its spokesperson, Daniel Conesa, has announced that the 2 regional public holidays for 2009 would remain the same as in the past. It justified its decision not to include the Eid al-Adha Muslim festival as one of the region's regional public holidays by the fact that the dates of Muslim festivals cannot be predicted in advance and are always subject to last-minute changes by religious authorities.
The government spokesperson did however say that the municipal government would treat the date of the 2009 Aid El Kebir as a school holiday (día no lectivo) and enjoined the region's government to do the same.
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