The Dutch government has condemned the organization of this demonstration, but said that it does not have legal powers to prevent it.
AFP reporters saw Edwin Wagensfeld, who leads the Dutch branch of the far-right Pegida movement, tearing up a copy of the Koran, along with two other people..
And “Pegida” or “European Patriots Against the Islamization of the West” is a racist movement launched from the German city of Dresden in 2014 due to the influx of immigrants. It warns of the “Islamization of the West” and calls for the expulsion of Muslims from Europe..
The Dutch police closed the road leading to the street in which the Turkish embassy is located, where a counter-demonstration was organized in which about fifty people participated, some of whom threw stones at Wagensfeld when he began tearing pages from the Qur’an..
About 20 policemen with shields and batons intervened, with some trying to chase Wagensfeld off as he left.
On Friday morning, the Dutch Minister of Justice, Dylan Yeshelgos-Zygerius, who was born in Turkey, described the tearing up of a copy of the Qur’an, considering it “pathetic” behavior, but added that the country’s laws allow such a demonstration..
However, Wagensfeld faces trial over his comments during a similar demonstration in January, when he tore up a copy of the Koran in front of parliament..
Similar acts of desecration of copies of the Qur’an occurred in several European countries recently. In late July, two men set fire to a copy of the Koran in front of the Swedish Parliament, in addition to similar incidents in Denmark this year..
These demonstrations sparked anger and condemnation in Muslim countries.
On Thursday, Sweden raised the level of warning of the danger of “terrorist attacks” due to the burning of copies of the Qur’an on its soil, noting that the “terrorist threat” in the country “will continue for a long time.”“.
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