THE HAGUE: A Dutch far-right activist trampled on and tore up a copy of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 at a demonstration outside the Turkish embassy in The Hague on Friday, infuriating dozens of counter-protesters.
The Dutch government had already condemned the holding of the demonstration ahead of the event, but said it had no legal powers to prevent it.
Edwin Wagensveld, who leads the Dutch branch of the far-right group Pegida, damaged a copy of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍, AFP correspondents witnessed. He was accompanied by two other people.
Police had sealed off access to the street where the Turkish embassy is located and there were around fifty counter-protesters also present.
Some of them began throwing stones at Wagensveld when he tore up pages from the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍, the holy book of Islam.
Around 20 police equipped with shields and batons intervened when some of the crowd tried to chase after him as he left.
On Friday morning Dilan Yesilgoz, the Netherlands鈥� Turkish-born justice minister, described the plan to destroy the holy book as 鈥渇airly primitive and pathetic.鈥�
But the country鈥檚 laws authorized such a demonstration, she added.
Wagensveld nevertheless faces trial for comments he made during a similar demonstration in January, when he tore up a copy of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 outside parliament while likening the book to Adolf Hitler鈥檚 鈥淢ein Kampf.鈥�
A T-shirt he wore at Friday鈥檚 demonstration made a similar claim.
Geert Wilders, the leader of another far-right party, the PVV, posted a message online supporting Friday鈥檚 demonstration by Pegida.
Similar attacks on the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 have taken place in other European countries recently.
In late July, two men set fire to a copy of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 in front of the Swedish parliament, and similar incidents have taken place in Denmark this year.
Such demonstrations have provoked anger and sometimes unrest in several Muslim countries.
On Thursday, Sweden鈥檚 intelligence agency heightened its terror alert level to four on a scale of five in response to the angry reactions in the Muslim world to 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 burnings.