Thousands of people demonstrated in Pakistan on Friday to protest against the desecration of copies of the Koran by far-right activists in Sweden and the Netherlands.
In Lahore, the second largest city in this Muslim country, at least 5,000 people took to the streets after the great weekly prayer and chanted slogans such as: “The Quran is imprinted in our hearts” Where “I am the protector of the Quran“.
Sensitive issue of blasphemy
This rally was organized at the call of the radical party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), at the origin of several anti-blasphemy demonstrations in recent years that have paralyzed major Pakistani cities.
The issue of blasphemy is particularly sensitive in Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of offense to Islam can result in killings and lynchings. Small demonstrations, supported by the Taliban authorities, also took place on Friday in neighboring Afghanistan.
About 1,000 men thus gathered in Jalalabad (east), where they notably sang: “Death to the infidels, death to Sweden, death to America“. As part of a protest authorized by Swedish police near the Turkish Embassy, Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran on Saturday.
On Sunday, a Dutch leader of the Islamophobic movement Pegida was filmed, alone, tearing up pages from a copy of the Koran near the Dutch parliament, before trampling on them.
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These two events sparked strong protests from Ankara and several capitals of the Muslim world, as well as demonstrations in Iraq or Syria.
Stockholm, for its part, deplored an act “deeply disrespectful» and expressed his «sympathyto Muslims, pointing out that the Swedish Constitution prevents such acts from being prohibited. This was not enough to calm the anger of Turkey which, in retaliation, refused to continue discussions on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO.
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