Bangladesh protests yet another Quran's copy burning

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh on Saturday condemned and protested another act of burning a copy of the Quran in Europe, this time in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, under police protection.

Rasmus Paludan, a far-right Danish politician known for his Islamophobic extremism, set fire to copies of the Quran near a mosque and outside the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen on Friday.

The Quran, which Muslims believe to be the final revelation from Allah, has recently been targeted in Europe.

Last Saturday, Paludan was given permission by the Swedish government to burn a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.

“Bangladesh strongly condemns the act of burning the Holy Quran by a far-right activist in Copenhagen yesterday,” said a statement from the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Bangladesh yet again expresses grave concern over such a heinous act of insulting the sacred values and religious symbols of the Muslims all over the world,” the statement added.

For the sake of harmony and peaceful coexistence, Bangladesh urges people to refrain from such unwarranted provocations and Islamophobia.

Earlier, the Muslim-majority South Asian country strongly condemned similar acts of Quran desecration by far-right activists in the Netherlands and Sweden.

Rasmus, the leader of the Danish far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line), carried out the "Islamophobic" act in Stockholm a few days earlier while being protected by police and with government approval.

While another far-right Dutch politician and leader of the Islamophobic group Pegida, Edwin Wagensveld, committed another such act last Monday in The Hague by shredding pages from a copy of the Quran and then burning them.

Attacks on the Quran in Sweden and the Netherlands drew condemnation from Türkiye and other countries.