Bearded Uzbek Fans Couldn’t Watch Soccer Match

Uzbek soccer fans said they were barred from entering a stadium because of their beards, government officials accept it as potential Islamic radicalism.

RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reported that one soccer fan told the agency that he and others wanted to enter soccer stadium to watch a game between Bukhara and Navbahor when plainclothes police stopped them with beards on May 29.

“There were thousands of people lining up to enter the stadium when a man in civilian clothes approached me and said ‘Go and remove your beard and then you can enter,’,” said the fan RFE/RL reported.

“I had no choice but to run to a nearby barber shop” for a shave, he said.

The full report is here.