Protests in the Middle East after anti-Quran actions, Dutch flags on fire

In a number of Islamic countries, demonstrations have been held against the anti-Koran actions of extreme right-wing activists in the Netherlands and Sweden. Demonstrations have been held in Lebanon, Pakistan, Iraq and cities in Afghanistan.

Last weekend, pages were torn from a Koran at a protest in The Hague. In Stockholm, the holy book for Muslims was set on fire.

In the Lebanese capital Beirut, about 200 demonstrators were present at the central Martyrs’ Square, AP news agency reports. They set flags of the Netherlands and Sweden on fire. In the Afghan capital Kabul, the same thing happened with an inverted Dutch flag with a red cross on it. Protests were also held in other cities in Afghanistan.

These are images of the protests in Lebanon and Afghanistan:

In Iraq, hundreds of followers of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gathered at a mosque in Baghdad, holding up Korans.

The cleric said burning the Quran “will bring divine wrath” and questioned whether freedom of speech means that other people’s beliefs can be offended.

In the Pakistani capital Islamabad, police stopped protesters who wanted to go to the Swedish embassy.

Last Sunday, the leader of anti-Islam organization Pegida, Edwin Wagensveld, tore pages from a Koran in The Hague. The municipality had allowed that protest on the basis of freedom of expression.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke of a “cowardly attack on our holy book” and called the Dutch ambassador to accountability.

The day before, on Saturday, a far-right Danish-Swedish activist had burned a Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. He had permission from the police to do so. President Erdogan used that event to reinforce his provisional refusal of Sweden’s NATO membership.

A leading university in Egypt has called for a boycott of Dutch and Swedish products.