Norway: Aggressive chase after Koran burning in Oslo

Nfter a Koran was burned in an Oslo suburb, the leader of an Islamophobic extremist group in Norway was the target of an aggressive car chase in which his vehicle was rammed and overturned. Police say they arrested two people on Saturday, including the driver of the car used to chase the SUV of Lars Thorsen, leader of the Stop the Islamization of Norway group.

The five occupants of the SUV were slightly injured, according to the police, one of them had to be treated in the hospital.

Rammed at high speed

A video posted to Facebook showed Thorsen and other extremists first driving to Mortensrud, a suburb of Oslo with a large Muslim population. The small group set fire to a Koran at an intersection and initially pushed back angry residents who wanted to erase the book.

Finally, a woman grabbed the charred Koran and got into a gray Mercedes. The extremists’ SUV left the scene. A few seconds later he was overtaken by the Mercedes, which first hit him lightly and then at a higher speed, causing the vehicle to roll over. The episode was filmed from a vehicle driving behind.

The incident came a week after a deadly gun attack in central Oslo that killed two people and wounded 21 others. The Norwegian domestic intelligence service rated the attack as an Islamist act of terrorism.

Islamophobic extremists in Scandinavia, including Rasmus Paludan with Swedish and Danish nationality, have repeatedly caused protests in recent years by burning the Koran in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods.