Amsterdam : Edwin Wagensfeld, leader of the extremist anti-Islam group Pegida in the Netherlands, tore up a copy of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, and then burned it in the city of Den Haag. Earlier, a similar incident had also come to light in Sweden, where a copy of the Quran was burnt. This incident has created resentment in Muslim countries. Pakistan and Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE have condemned the incident. On Monday, far-right politician Edwin Wagensveld shared on Twitter a video of a Koran being torn in front of the parliament building in The Hague.
In Wagensveld’s video it can be seen that Dutch police were standing behind Wagensveld at the time of the incident. In front of the police, he first set foot on the Quran, tore its pages and set it on fire. Wagensveld tweeted, “Those who know and follow us know that we never give up. We cannot allow violence and threats of death to dominate us. “After being arrested and detained twice before, today is the third time,” he said.
Turkey summons Dutch ambassador
The Dutch police allowed him to do so, provided he did not burn the holy book of Muslims, Anadolu Agency reported. Muslim countries all over the world are angry about the incident. Turkey summoned Dutch Ambassador Joep Wijnands to Ankara on Tuesday. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that we condemn in the strongest terms the targeting of our holy book by an anti-Islamic person in The Hague on 22 January.
Muslim countries around the world are angry
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also strongly condemned the burning of a copy of the Quran. The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the tearing of a copy of the Koran in the Netherlands was “an inflammatory act against the sentiments of hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.” Pakistan also condemned the act on Wednesday. In a statement issued by Pakistan, it was said that the sentiments of the 1.5 billion Muslim community around the world have been hurt.
