On June 28, as Muslims around the world celebrated the first day of Eid al-Adha, a group of individuals defiantly desecrated the Holy Quran in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.

Local police once again provided security for the anti-Muslim stunt which was held outside the city’s main mosque.

The political opposition movement Erkin O’zbekiston strongly condemns this xenophobic act of religious intolerance, which was conducted under the false pretext of supporting the rights to freedom of expression.

We understand that by allowing such provocative actions, the Swedish authorities are pursuing purely political goals. We consider it unacceptable that methods that could lead to inter-confessional and inter-ethnic conflicts should be used to achieve their goals.

We demand that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan urgently issue an official statement condemning the Swedish authorities for allowing such actions of hatred and intolerance towards Islam and the Holy Quran.