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Members of the Ataka party (left) are seen assaulting praying Muslims (middle) with a policemen attempting to intervene (right). Photo by BGNES
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has condemned Friday's incident in which members of the nationalist party Ataka assaulted praying Muslims in the Banya Bashi mosque in downtown Sofia.
The brawl that the nationalists and their leader Volen Siderov started as part of a protest against the mosque's loudspeakers has led to an unprecedented for Bulgaria interruption of the Muslims' Friday's prayer.
"Everybody who lives in Bulgaria is a Bulgarian citizen, and will be protected," Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov declared in Parliament.
"We might have political differences but let us in no may cast a shadow on Bulgaria's major advantage that makes it stand out in the entire region – its tolerance," the top diplomat said.
In his words, the government and the security services will investigate the incident in detail in order to prevent any such outbursts in the future.
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