An attempt by the leader of the right-wing radical movement Pegida Edwin Wagensveld to set fire to the Koran in the Dutch city of Arnhem on January 13 completely got out of control. The police were unable to contain angry observers of the trial, who attacked Wagensveld, injuring him and several law enforcement officers. The police were bombarded with fireworks and stones, the portal reported Bndestem.
“It’s very sad and disappointing that there was so much violence. I am very disappointed. I understand the anger and emotion that burning a holy book evokes, but violence is unacceptable. You have to fight ideas with ideas,” said the mayor of Arnhem, Ahmed Markush.
After the failed burning action, three people were arrested and, according to the mayor, new arrests are not excluded in the coming days, since the video recorded everything that happened at the time of the brawl.
Wagensveld received permission from the municipality to burn the Koran. This action caused unrest in the Muslim community. On Friday, January 12, a leaflet was distributed at the mosque calling for a counter-demonstration.
Counter-demonstrators gathered at the site of the destruction of the Koran at noon. Mayor Markus asked them to leave the square around 1:30 p.m., but they refused. Markus then called the police unit, which arrived around 3 p.m. While officers dispersed the demonstrators, Wagensveld twice failed to burn the book.
Things escalated when several counter-demonstrators broke through police and ran toward Wagensveld and his companion. They were badly damaged. There were fights with the police. Glass, stones, Molotov cocktails, bottles and chairs were thrown into the square. There was also a powerful bang.
On September 3, 2023, Dutch prosecutors announced that a man who stabbed two American tourists at Amsterdam Central Station did so because of “attacks on Islam.” The attacker said that in the Netherlands his religious feelings are often insulted. On August 31, a native of Afghanistan attacked visitors to a train station in Amsterdam with a knife. Police wounded the attacker, but he managed to stab two tourists from the United States.
The first of the Koran burning events was carried out by the leader of the Danish far-right party “Hard Course” Rasmus Paludan on January 21, 2023. He burned the Koran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. It was noted that the action was agreed upon with the mayor's office. The Swedish government called this gesture a demonstration of freedom of speech. As a response, a protest took place at the Swedish Consulate General in Istanbul, during which activists demonstratively burned the Swedish flag.
On July 21, the Danish far-right group “Danish Patriots” held a Koran burning event in Copenhagen. Members of the group burned the Koran at the Iraqi embassy and trampled the flag of the Middle Eastern state. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemned the action.
On August 16, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali, in an interview with Izvestia, noted that the action of burning the Koran in some European countries testifies to the destruction of morality and morality in the West. He noted that such insignificant behavior is not justified by any logic other than barbarity and savagery.
On August 18, the Swedish authorities announced their intention to revise the law on public order, which allows public events with the burning of the Koran, sacred to Islam. The study of this issue will be completed by June 1, 2024.
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