The Netherlands police on Saturday got into a scuffle with a group trying to stop an attack on the Muslim holy book, the Quran, that was organized by Edwin Wagensveld, the leader of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) movement.
Police said a group demonstrated against PEGIDA's authorized Quran burning, for which they obtained permission from the municipality in Arnhem.
The group attempted to intervene, leading to the discontinuation of the demonstration.
Three individuals were arrested for noncompliance and three officers sustained minor injuries.
It was noted that the PEGIDA leader was placed under police protection.
Arnhem Mayor Ahmed Marcouch, of Moroccan origin, said burning a sacred book is not prohibited in the Netherlands.
Marcouch noted that while such an act might be understandable in affecting people, resorting to violence is unacceptable.
In the Netherlands, mayors have the authority to ban demonstrations if they anticipate a disruption of public order.
Yıldırım Usta, a Dutch-Turkish council member from the Denk Party in Arnhem, criticized Marcouch in a statement for allowing PEGIDA's Quran attack.
Usta criticized the oversight of the PEGIDA Quran attack, citing it as a hate crime under the guise of free speech.
He expressed discontent with the police handling of Muslim protesters and announced plans to take initiatives in the municipal council for stronger measures against hate crimes.
In attacks on the Quran conducted by Wagensveld in 2022 and 2023, it was reported that if he were to burn the Quran, police would intervene due to the prohibition of public fires, according to public order and safety regulations.
Wagensveld tore the Quran under police protection in front of the temporary Dutch parliament building in The Hague on Jan. 22, 2023, and alone in a demonstration in Utrecht on Feb. 13.
Similarly, PEGIDA's planned Quran burning in Rotterdam on Oct. 22, 2022, ended before it began with Wagensveld's arrest.
Muslim groups gathered at the planned location in Rotterdam, despite PEGIDA's announcement of the burning and organized a counterdemonstration due to the show not being banned.
After being detained and released the same day, Wagensveld attempted a similar act in The Hague the following day but was again arrested by police for not complying with demonstration rules.
Last year, on Aug. 18 and Sept. 23, Wagensveld tore the Quran in front of Türkiye's Embassy in The Hague, drawing renewed ire from the Foreign Ministry, which condemned the spread of "provocative attacks allowed under the guise of freedom of expression" in European countries.
Ankara has since repeatedly called on authorities in the Netherlands, as well as other Western nations like Denmark and Sweden, where similar demonstrations took place throughout 2023, to take urgent and effective measures against such attempts to desecrate copies of the Quran.
Notably, Denmark passed a law making it illegal to desecrate any holy text in public in early December, after a year where more than 500 protests took place involving Quran burnings in front of embassies of Muslim countries, places of worship and immigrant neighborhoods.
Muslims view the Quran as the literal word of God, and desecration of the holy book is deeply offensive, resulting in protests in the Muslim world.
