A leader of the anti-Muslim group Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) desecrated a copy of the Holy Quran in front of the embassies of Muslim countries in the Netherlands.
Edwin Wagensveld, the leader of Pegida in the Netherlands, publicly ripped apart a copy of the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish, Pakistani, and Indonesian embassies in The Hague. His hateful act was accompanied by insults directed at Islam and Muslims.
Hagensveld then tossed pages of the holy book on the ground and demanded the copy he desecrated last month. He expressed gratitude to the Dutch police for protecting him during this provocative act.
The Holy Quran, which had been desecrated during a similar incident in The Hague on August 18, was later repaired and presented to Turkish Ambassador Selçuk Ünal.
Salih Arslan, head of the Mimar Sinan Mosque Association affiliated with the Turkish-Muslim group IGMG, handed over the Holy Quran.
Ambassador Ünal strongly condemned any attacks on the Holy Quran and expressed hope that such actions would not happen again.
He stated that, after repairing the torn copy of the Holy Quran, they would keep it in the embassy as a reminder of this disrespectful act and are in contact with Dutch authorities to prevent any similar incidents.
Previous attacks against the Holy Quran occurred in countries like Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
For example, Rasmus Paludan, a Danish far-right politician and leader of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Party, engaged in provocations by burning the Holy Quran in several Swedish cities during Easter holidays in 2022.
Edwin Wagensveld, the leader of the Islamophobic organization Pegida in the Netherlands, tore the Holy Quran in two separate incidents, one in The Hague and another in Utrecht.
In Stockholm, Salwan Momika set the Holy Quran on fire while under police protection, and Bahrami Marjan, of Iranian origin, burned the Holy Quran on a beach in Stockholm.
