AA / Moscou / Ömer Asur Cuhadar
An individual burned another copy of the Holy Quran on Friday in front of the Russian Embassy in the Danish capital Copenhagen, for the third time in the country in a single day.
The Russian Embassy said in a statement that a series of acts including the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Holy Quran, were carried out outside its consular office in Copenhagen.
She stressed that the Danish authorities closed their eyes to these acts, which testify to a mockery displayed of the “feelings of believers”.
According to the Russian embassy, these acts “are not a manifestation of freedom of expression and democracy, but rather a shameless and blind provocation aimed at stirring up hatred between religions and the conflict of civilizations”.
She therefore called for a complete ban on these practices and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
The identity of the person who burned the copy of the Koran in front of the Russian Embassy has not been disclosed.
Earlier on Friday, the leader of Denmark’s far-right Hard Line party, Rasmus Paludan, once more burned a copy of the Holy Quran outside the Türkiye Embassy in Copenhagen, under heavy police protection, shortly following. having carried out an auto-da-fé in front of a mosque.
Paludan announced on Thursday that he was going to burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of a mosque in Denmark and near the embassies of Türkiye and Russia, without any objection from the Danish authorities.
On January 21, Paludan burned a copy of the Koran in front of the Türkiye embassy in the Swedish capital Stockholm, under strong police protection. The Swedish police prevented anyone from approaching Paludan, while he was committing this provocative act.
This desecration of the Holy Quran has aroused many reactions in the Muslim world. The Türkiye considered these practices as “provocative acts”, “hate crimes”, and decided to cancel a visit by Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson to Ankara.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a message to Sweden on Monday telling it that it should not expect support from Ankara regarding its accession to the Treaty of North Atlantic (NATO), as long as it does not respect Islamic beliefs and values.
Erdogan said, following a government meeting in Ankara, that “this heinous act” committed in Sweden (burning a copy of the Koran) is an insult once morest all those who respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of people, and in particular Muslims.
The Turkish President added that “The Holy Quran, preserved by God, will never be desecrated if a copy is burned by the descendants of the Crusaders, and we know that since the Crusades, Europe has assimilated the precepts of Islam and the Turks, are proud of this assimilation”.
* Translated from Arabic by Mounir Bennour.
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