Racist PEDIGA leader detained

Edwin Wagensveld, leader of the racist and far-right Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) movement in the Netherlands, was detained for insulting the Holy Quran.

In the written statement made by the Dutch police, it was stated that Wagensveld hung the Holy Quran on his dog collar and dragged it on the ground.

In the statement, it was stated that Wagensveld’s action violated the protest ban imposed on him by the Arnhem Municipality last week due to insulting the Holy Quran, and therefore he was detained in court.

In the statement, it was stated that Wagensveld’s coming to the court, which is banned from entering the city of Arnhem, was an exceptional situation, and it was noted that his other actions did not include this.

Last week, Arnhem Municipality banned the Quran burning action planned by Wagensveld on March 23 due to the disruption and danger of public order.

After Wagensveld shared on his social media account that he would come to the city and carry out the protest despite the ban, Arnhem Municipality banned him from entering the region for 6 months.

Wagensveld, who objected to the ban, came to Arnhem Court for the hearing today.

A fight broke out between the police and the group that intervened in the Quran burning action planned on January 13 in Arnhem, Wagensveld.

PROVOCATIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS

In Wagensveld’s attacks against the Quran in different cities in the country in 2022 and 2023, it was reported that the police would intervene if he burned the Quran, since lighting fires in public spaces is prohibited according to the regulation on public order and security.

PEGIDA movement leader Wagensveld tore the Holy Quran under police protection in front of the temporary Dutch parliament building in The Hague on January 22 last year, and during a demonstration he held alone in Utrecht on February 13.

Similarly, PEGIDA’s action, which planned to burn the Holy Quran in Rotterdam on October 22, 2022, ended before it started with Wagensveld’s detention.

Muslim groups gathered at the place where the demonstration in Rotterdam was planned organized a counter-demonstration because PEGIDA had announced that they would burn the Quran, but the demonstration was not banned.

Wagensveld, who was released on the same day after being detained, wanted to carry out a similar protest in The Hague the next day, but the police detained Wagensveld again on the grounds that he did not comply with the demonstration rules…