After desecrating the Qurans, Al-Azhar calls for a boycott of Swedish and Dutch products

Al-Azhar, one of Egypt’s most prestigious Sunni Islamic institutions, on Wednesday called for a “boycott of Swedish and Dutch products” after the desecration of the Koran by far-right activists this weekend in Sweden and the Netherlands.

As part of a demonstration authorized by the Swedish police nearEmbassy From Turkey, Swedish-Danish far-right Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Quran on Saturday. Sunday Dutch leader of the Islamophobia movement pegida Who was filmed alone during the process of tearing pages from a copy of the Qur’an near the Dutch Parliament, before stepping on it.

But according to Dutch public television NOS, the local police prevented him from burning the Muslim holy book. These two events sparked strong protests from Ankara and many capitals of the Islamic world as well as demonstrations in Iraq and Syria. Pakistan and in Afghanistan.

convictions

In a press release, the enterprise Sunni It called on “Muslims to boycott Dutch and Swedish products,” and demanded “the appropriate response of the governments of these two countries (…) and their continued protection of despicable and barbaric crimes in the name of” freedom of expression “.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry “strongly” condemned the two operations in statements, expressing on the second Monday its “deep concern over the recurrence of such events and the recent escalation in a number of European countries.”

Sweden calls for calm

Stockholm For his part, he denounced this “extremely disrespectful” act, expressing his “sympathy” for Muslims, stressing that the Swedish constitution forbids this type of behavior. This was not enough to appease Turkey, which was more determined than ever to block Sweden’s candidacy for NATO membership.

Monday, Washington called the book burning The Quran A “distasteful” work denouncing the “provocation” and “deliberate desire to influence ongoing discussions about Sweden and Finland joining NATO” and the “weakening” of transatlantic unity.

“I want to renew a working dialogue with turkey “, he told him first Minister Swede Ulf Christerson, in a press conference, on Tuesday, criticized the “provocateurs” who are trying to destabilize the Swedish candidacy, and called for “calm” in the face of a “dangerous” situation.