Kuwait, Turkey condemn desecration of Quran in the Netherlands
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Kuwait City: Kuwait has condemned the burning of a copy of the Quran by a right-wing leader in the Dutch city of The Hague. Foreign Minister Sheikh Salim Abdullah Al Jabir Al-Sabah said in a statement that this is a new provocative act after a similar shameful incident in Sweden.
He warned that this would only fuel Muslim anger around the world. The Minister requested all countries and international organizations to redouble their efforts and take it upon themselves to prevent such unacceptable and recurring crimes. Values of dialogue and tolerance should be promoted. He also appealed to them to do all they can to fight hatred and extremism instead of actions that incite violence.
The leader of Pegida, an anti-Islamic movement in the Netherlands, Edwin Wagensveld reportedly tore up the Qur'an. The provocative video was shared by him on his Twitter account. Police was present at the site and looked on but did not intervene.
The incident took place in front of the Parliament building in The Hague. This comes two days after the Swedish far-right burned an effigy of Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm last Saturday. Kuwait strongly condemned this action.
Turkey also came out condemning the act in front of its embassy in Stockholm. Turkey’s foreign ministry had said on Tuesday that summoned the Dutch ambassador following a demonstration targeting Islam’s holy book, days after a similar protest in Sweden tensed relations.
Edwin Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the far-right Pegida movement in the Netherlands, on Sunday tore pages out of a copy of the Quran near the Dutch parliament and stomped on the pages.
“It is about freedom of expression and I think that should be possible in the Netherlands,” Wagensveld said in a video posted on the site of Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.