BEIRUT, August 7. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has sharply criticized the silence of ruling circles in European countries over extremists who desecrated the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, in Sweden and Denmark.

"I condemn these racist acts of hatred against Muslim nations," he told the Al Mayadeen TV, "The silence of European leaders over the burning of copies of the Quran is surprising, which amounts to their complicity in the crime."

According to Maduro, it is impossible to turn a blind eye to such provocations that humiliate Islam and its followers. "What would European Christians say if a Bible was burned in front of them? Therefore, the angry reaction of the Islamic world to the desecration of copies of the holy book is quite natural," he pointed out.

Anti-Islamic actions involving the burning of the Quran took place on July 25 near the embassies of Egypt and Turkey in Copenhagen. A similar action was carried out a day earlier in front of the Iraqi embassy. All were organized by the far-right ultranationalist group Danish Patriots. On June 28, the burning of the Quran took place during a police-authorized demonstration in downtown Stockholm. Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi immigrant, tore pages from the Quran and set it on fire. On July 20, he staged another provocation in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, prompting protesters to attack the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.