Dutch Mosques Demand Koran Burning Ban

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

ARNHEM, NETHERLANDS (Worthy News) – Dutch mosques have urged the Netherlands to ban the burning of the Koran after several people were injured when the leader of anti-Islam group Pegida tried to torch that book, deemed holy by Muslims.

Pegida leader Edwin Wagensveld and three police officers were injured Saturday when angry Muslims interrupted his anti-Islam protest in the Dutch eastern city of Arnhem.

Footage seen by Worthy News showed that Wagensveld first tried to tear up a Koran and then set it on fire. But this attempt failed when he was taken down with a flying karate kick in his face.

Riot police soon intervened to push back the Muslims. Arnhem Mayor Ahmed Marcouch, a Muslim of Moroccan descent, had reluctantly permitted the anti-Islam protest, citing Dutch traditions of freedom of speech.

Marcouch expressed outrage that police were attacked and pelted with fireworks and stones. “As much as I understand the sadness and pain [over the attempted Koran burning], there is absolutely no excuse for the use of violence. That is unacceptable,” he said.

“In a democracy, you fight bad ideas with better ideas. So yes, I am angry and disappointed that this happened,” he told reporters.

Wagensveld defended his protest, saying he had received permission along with about ten others to exercise their “right to freedom of expression” about a religion that he considers totalitarian. It is a far cry from Islamic nations such as Pakistan or Iran, where perceived blasphemy against Islam can lead to the death penalty.

WEIGHING OPTIONS

On Sunday, Muslims were weighing their options on the streets of Arnhem, a city of nearly 170,000 residents whose nationalities span more than 100 countries.

Mosques want mayors to prevent the torching of the Koran at a time when the anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) has become the biggest political force in the country following recent elections.

However, former PVV legislator Joram van Klaveren, who converted to Islam after leaving the party, said he understood the anger among Muslims. “There is freedom of expression. But not freedom to burn religious books,” he said.

The debate comes as PVV leader Geert Wilders attempts to form a coalition government after promising to respect the constitution.

In recent days, Wilders said his PVV party is scrapping proposed legislation calling for a ban on “expressions of Islam,” which he viewed as a “hostile political ideology bent on conquest.”

Wilders withdrew his party’s ban on “expressions of Islam,” which would also include closing mosques and banning the Koran to “stop the Islamization of the Netherlands” due to massive immigration.

Leaders of the three potential coalition parties— VVD, NSC, and BBB—gathered last week for talks under the aegis of coalition scout Ronald Plasterk.

FEW DETAILS

While few details have emerged, assurances that the Dutch Constitution, which enshrines various liberties, including the freedom of religion, will be safeguarded is part of the discussions, officials confirmed.

The PVV’s potential partners have reportedly made that a critical condition for working with Wilders.

It was unclear whether those safeguards would calm Mayor Marcouch, who recently said he found himself comforting his distraught eight-year-old after the November election results.

Earlier in the day, a teacher at his son’s school had explained the election results, discussing the broad differences between parties. Now Marcouch’s son was apparently “terrified” that the family would have to leave the country.

“It was heartbreaking,” said Marcouch, a longtime member of the leftist social democratic Labour Party (PvdA). “This is the son of the mayor,” he said. “And he’s scared that the government – this party – will push them out of this society.”

Wilders’ popularity has been linked in part to his pro-Israel views after massive pro-Palestinian protests with antisemitic slogans following the October 7 Hamas massacres in Israel.

A Jewish Holocaust survivor in Amsterdam told Worthy News she isn’t against Muslims, who now comprise roughly 5 percent of the Dutch population of 17.5 million people.

Yet, she has become “more concerned” to express her pro-Israel views openly.

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