Edwin Wagensveld, the leader of the extremist right-wing group PEGIDA in the Netherlands, brazenly sparked controversy once again on Saturday with a campaign of tearing up the Quran in front of multiple countries’ embassies in The Hague. Among the embassies targeted were Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Denmark.
Wagensveld actions were not limited to tearing apart the Muslim holy book, however. He also insulted Islam and Muslims by deliberately stomping on torn out pages of the sacred book in front of the Turkish Embassy. This added to the outrage.
Destruction of the holy book has long spurred a debate over the limits of freedom of speech in the country and elsewhere. Some claim it is protected “speech,” while others consider it offensive and a violation of religious sensibilities.
This campaign of religious hate carried out in multiple locations heightens concerns about how to foster mutual respect among communities with different faiths and beliefs and how to stop hate speech and hate crime throughout the world.
The foreign ministries of many countries including Turkey, Oman and Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the desecration of copies of the Holy Quran.