Sana’a, (EFE).- Thousands of people demonstrated this Monday in the capital of Yemen against the burning of copies of the Koran in Sweden and Denmark, acts that have strained relations with Muslim-majority countries in an unprecedented way.
The demonstration was called by the Houthi rebel movement, which has controlled much of the northwest of the country since the war broke out in Yemen in 2014, including the capital Sanaa, where it has previously organized massive marches against offenses against Islam, among other reasons.
The demonstrators raised copies of the Koran, the holy book of Muslims, while shouting slogans denouncing its burning and calling for a boycott of products from Sweden and Denmark, according to EFE.
Other participants raised daggers, pistols and AK-47 assault rifles.
“Burning the Koran is a manifestation of hatred against Islam,” read a banner carried by the protesters, who also burned flags of the United States and Israel – the nemesis of the Arab countries – during the protest.
During the march, Mohamed Muftah, a senior official of the insurgent movement justified the burning of the American flag because “America is the mother of all demons.”
Four copies of the Koran burned in the last week
In the past week, at least four copies of the Quran have been burned outside the Iraqi embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen, prompting an angry reaction from Arab-majority countries.
Precisely, this Monday two protesters set fire to another copy of the Muslim holy book in Copenhagen.
Faced with these acts, the president of the Arab Parliament, Adel Al Asumi, asked on Sunday “the Arab and Islamic peoples” to initiate a “boycott” against Denmark and demanded the approval of laws “that criminalize insults to religious symbols, sanctities and divine books”.
Assault on the Swedish embassy
The Quran burnings prompted Iraqi protesters to storm the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday and set it on fire, while the Iraqi government expelled the European country’s ambassador and suspended the contracts of Swedish companies operating in Iraq.
Another group of protesters tried to break into the headquarters of the Danish diplomatic mission in the Iraqi capital on Saturday, but security forces prevented it, and Danish diplomatic staff have left the Arab country, according to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.