Protests Held in Pakistan Against Swedish, Dutch Attacks on Koran

Blasphemy and insults to Islam have fueled issues in Pakistan, where leaders have regularly voiced concerns about the rise of Islamophobia on the international stage.

At least 5,000 people marched through the second-largest city of Lahore, chanting “The Koran is engraved in our hearts” and “I am the protector of the Koran,” while protesting against the radical anti-blasphemy party Terik Eh. • Marched at a rally organized by Rabaik Pakistan.

Around 1,000 people staged small protests in the southern city of Karachi, with Swedish flags being torn up in both cities.

Smaller protests were also held in several neighboring Afghan cities, where men carrying Taliban flags were allowed to participate in rare and brief street demonstrations sanctioned by Islamist authorities.

About 1,000 men gathered in the eastern city of Jalalabad and chanted “Death to the Gentiles, Death to Sweden, Death to America.”

Swedish and Danish right-wing politician Rasmus Pardan set fire to copies of Islamic scriptures in front of the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital on Saturday, days after anti-Islamic protests targeting the Quran in The Hague. was performed by one person.

Ankara, furious that Pardan was allowed by the police to carry out the protest, canceled the visit of the Swedish Defense Minister and summoned the Stockholm ambassador and later the Dutch ambassador.

The incident has been condemned not only by the United Nations and the European Union, but also by world leaders.

Demonstrations also erupted in Iraq, with Indonesia summoning a Swedish special envoy and Egypt calling for a boycott of Swedish and Dutch products.