It will soon be 20 years since his arrival in Badalona. You seem to have a special relationship with the city.

It is so true that I find it hard to explain it in words. I want it deeply. That is why I have participated in all the initiatives that I have had the opportunity to improve the city. Badalona is characterised by cultural diversity, and we must take advantage of it. It is time to understand that diversity is a wealth and not a threat, as opened by the previous government.

Badalona City Hall is a pioneer in having a Muslim woman – and a handkerchief – as a councillor. How have you lived it?

It has been complex, especially after the racist policies that Xavier García Albiol (pp), in Badalona, opened in recent years. He dismembered the city from top to bottom and the population of Badalona has in its bowels the vision that the PP sowed. It was not expected that the previous government would refuse to see the Muslim woman wearing the scarf in the City Hall, something that it rejected.

Have you been well received?

It has happened to me; there are people who have insulted me and laid me on the street, but I am sticking to positive things. Most people have been congratulated and that is a great step on the road to equality. I have received messages of congratulations from every corner of the world.

What was it like for immigrants to live with the policies of García Albiol?

Very hard. The previous governments of Albiol decided to suspend the measures they had carried out in favour of coexistence and equality. And not only that, Albiol's priority was to promote fear and hatred of difference. By way of example, the department I have now, Participation and Coexistence, already existed at the time of Albiol, but when we have come we have found it without content.

After the last elections they managed to get Albiol out of town hall. There's a symbolic picture of when you made the promise, which has turned the world around.

I remember that moment perfectly. I was in front of him, and I realized he was suffering. How would I not suffer! He worked throughout the legislature for foreigners to disclose that they were not entitled and at the time when I, with the veil, was excluding him, I couldn't be in any way. Poor man! The photograph I made as a councilman is a reflection of Badalona’s victory.

How important has the change had for the Muslim community of Badalona?

As citizens, they have been opened a door. But not only the Muslim community, but all the communities that live in Badalona. This is just the beginning, I am convinced that in the coming elections there will be candidates from other religions and cultures.

Let's talk about the eternal debate of the Caucasians.

It's totally fictional. The scarf does not prevent anything, neither being an activist, nor being a politician ... I, for example, wear a scarf because I want it, and most of those wearing a veil do it with conviction. Of course, we cannot forget that there are also people who are forced to dress in society or the family.

The brain problem these days is on the surface of skin. Some believe that wearing a burkini or a veil is a violation of freedom…

If I decide to veil myself and you prohibit me, then you also die my freedom. I do not agree with those who have to wear the veil or with those who have to take it away. Women must have the right to decide.

How do you see feminism in the Muslim community?

Muslim women have a lot of rights that people don't know about, and certainly feminism has its strength in Islam. We have for over 1,400 years the right to marry and separate ourselves from schools, heritage and freedoms. We've been pioneers in many ways compared to here.

It is true that over time we have been losing rights, but not because of Islam, as many people think, but because it has robbed us of colonialism, politics or societies. In any case, we Muslim women struggle to recover them.

Do you think there's a lack of information about Islam?

There's too much noise. I do not want to generalise, but, on the one hand, the media does not help much, and on the other, society in general does not make any effort to go beyond what the media is saying. So there is also too much ignorance.