Far-right extremists in Europe took action again for provocation. A group of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) supporters tried to burn the Holy Quran with the permission of Arnhem Municipality.
Turks and Muslims living in the city appealed to the municipality to ban the ugly protest, but their request was rejected.
In response, far-right PEGIDA supporters mobilized to carry out the ugly action accompanied by police protection.
But Muslims were also there. They intervened when an Islamophobe tried to burn the Koran and tried to stop the demonstration. The police intervened with batons against the Muslims who tried to stop the PEGIDA protesters.
‘FREEDOM OF OPINION EXCUSE’
Making a statement on the issue, DENK Party Arnhem City Councilor Yıldırım Usta said: “The permission of Mayor Ahmed Marcouch for the burning of the Holy Qur’an, which PEGIDA tried to carry out in Arnhem, is quite striking. Allowing this vile act of open hatred and insulting Muslims and providing PEGIDA with a police escort is almost like supporting this insult. As a group of the DENK Party, we made an official request to the mayor to ban this hate demonstration immediately. Unfortunately, we did not receive a positive response. Under the pretext of freedom of opinion, this blatant hate crime was ignored. Despite our concerns for security and public order, our request for cancellation was ignored.
