MANILA, Philippines - A ban on the construction of minarets in the foreign country of Switzerland has caught the ire of local Muslim elders in Cotabato City.

Ulama or Muslim elders conducted a protest rally at the Cotabato City plaza to decry the construction of minarets in mosques in Switzerland. A minaret is an architectural feature on Islamic mosques, usually a tall spire with onion-shaped or conical crowns.

Ustadz Jaafar Ali, coordinator of the World Islamic Call Society Cotabato chapter, said the ban on minarets is an insult to Islam

"Ito ay panghihimasok sa mga Muslim sa Switzerland at malaking insulto ito sa mga Islam. Ito'y ibig sabihin na ang Islam ay hindi bagay ngayong civilization," he said.

He said that if the Swiss ban on minarets continues, his group will call on fellow Muslims in the city not to patronize products made from Switzerland.

Muslims account for just five percent of Switzerland's population of 7.5 million people, and form the third largest religion group after the dominant Roman Catholic and Protestant communities, although just 50,000 are estimated to openly worship.

The constitutional amendment banned the construction of minarets last year, and has no impact on mosques or the freedom of religious worship.

Switzerland has just four minarets, which are not allowed to broadcast the call to prayer, as well as some 200 mosques, according to official sources. With reports from Jasper Acosta, ABS-CBN News; and Agence France Presse