Bulgarian xenophobic parties Ataka (Attack) and VMRO, as well as several other marginal far-right formations, are to stage a rally in the Bulgarian town of Pazardzhik on Monday, as a Pazardzhik court is to hold a new hearing in a highly publicized radical Islam trial.

The nationalists are to rally against the expected mass presence of Muslims in front of the Pazardzhik court, local media inform.

Last week, the nationalists demanded that local authorities deny the access of "women in burqas and bearded men in black dressing gowns" to the area in front of the court in Pazardzhik, dnevnik.bg reminds.

Police have gathered in the area in order to prevent potential clashes between nationalists and Muslims.

The trial against the 13 members of the Al Waqf-Al Islami organization's local branch was launched on September 18.

The suspects have been charged with preaching an undemocratic ideology and seeking to impose Sharia law, with leading and participating in an unregistered religious entity preaching an undemocratic ideology and with preaching religious intolerance.

According to the indictment, the defendants built their belief systems in line with elements of Salafism, which they presented in Bulgaria in a radical version in the period March 2008 – October 6, 2010.

All suspects have pleaded not guilty.

Bulgarian Muslims have already staged several mass protest rallies in front of the court building. They say the charges are groundless and they fear a new "Revival Process," a remake of the one from the 80s of the last century when the Communist regime forced them to change their Muslim names with Christian ones, is looming in Bulgaria.

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