Muslims protest in several countries against desecration of Qur’an

0


Protests were held on Friday in several predominantly Muslim countries to denounce the recent desecration of Islam’s holy book by far-right activists in Sweden and the Netherlands. 

The protests in countries including Pakistan, Iraq and Lebanon ended with people dispersing peacefully. In Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, police officers stopped some demonstrators trying to march toward the Swedish Embassy.

About 12,000 Islamists from the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party rallied in Lahore, the capital of the eastern Punjab province, to denounce the desecration of the Qur’an in the two European countries. In his speech to the demonstrators, Saad Rizvi, the head of the TLP, asked the government to lodge a strong protest with Sweden and the Netherlands so that such incidents don’t happen again.

Similar rallies were also held in the southern city of Karachi and in the northwest.

Supporters of religious group Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan chant slogans during a rally in Karachi, Pakistan, on Friday. (Ikram Suri/The Associated Press)

Friday’s rallies dispersed peacefully. However, Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan in recent years has held violent rallies over the publication of caricatures of Islam’s prophet in France and elsewhere in the world.

In Beirut, about 200 angry protesters burned the flags of Sweden and the Netherlands outside the blue-domed Mohammed Al-Amin mosque at the city’s central Martyrs Square.

Earlier this month, Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist from Denmark, received permission from police to stage a protest outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm where he burned the Qur’an. Days later, Edwin Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the far-right Pegida movement in the Netherlands, tore pages out of a copy of the Qur’an near the Dutch parliament and stomped on them.

The moves angered millions of Muslims around the world and triggered protests.

Freedom of expression guaranteed

Swedish officials have stressed that freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Swedish constitution and gives people extensive rights to express their views publicly, though incitement to violence or hate speech isn’t allowed. Demonstrators must apply to police for a permit for a public gathering. Police can deny such permits only on exceptional grounds, such as risks to public safety.

Iraq’s powerful Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr asked in comments released Friday whether freedom of speech means offending other people’s beliefs. He asked why “doesn’t the burning of the gays’ rainbow flag represent freedom of expression.”

The cleric said that burning the Qur’an “will bring divine anger.” Hundreds of his supporters gathered outside a mosque in Baghdad waving copies of the Qur’an.

Also Friday, Turkey summoned the Danish ambassador over reports that Paludan would be allowed to burn the Qur’an during a series of protests in Copenhagen.

A man in a helmet speaks into a megaphone in front of a mosque in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Far-right activist Rasmus Paludan speaks on a megaphone in front of a mosque on Friday in the Noerrebro area of Copenhagen, Denmark, where he planned to burn the Qur’an. (Olafur Steinar Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix/The Associated Press)

Paludan, who holds both Danish and Swedish citizenship, infuriated Turkey by staging a Qur’an-burning protest in Sweden on Jan. 21. He told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that he would replicate the protest in front of the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen every Friday until Sweden is admitted into NATO. 

Burning in Copenhagen

On Friday, he burned a copy of the Muslim holy book outside a mosque in Copenhagen. Loud music blared from the mosque as he spoke, in an apparent attempt to drown his words.

“This mosque has no place in Denmark,” said Paludan in a live broadcast on his Facebook page, wearing a protective helmet and surrounded by riot police.

The activist, who has police protection, was then driven away in a police car.

In his live feed, he said he would repeat the demonstration outside the Turkish and Russian embassies.

‘Unacceptable’

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said the Danish ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry where Turkish officials “strongly condemned the permission given to this provocative act, which clearly constitutes a hate crime.”

The ambassador was told that “Denmark’s attitude is unacceptable” and that Turkey expected that the permission be revoked, according to Anadolu.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Danish media that the incident would not change Denmark’s “good relationship” with Turkey, adding that Copenhagen intended to talk to Ankara about Denmark’s laws upholding freedoms.

“Our task now is to talk to Turkey about how the conditions are in Denmark with our open democracy, and that there is a difference between Denmark as a country — and our people as such — and then about individual people who have strongly divergent views,” Lokke Rasmussen said.

Paludan’s action last week caused a fury in Turkey, which criticized Swedish authorities for allowing the demonstration to take place outside the Turkish Embassy. Turkey’s president cast serious doubt on NATO’s expansion, warning Sweden not to expect support for its membership bid in the military alliance.



Source link

Denial of responsibility! Planetconcerns is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.

Leave a comment