JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned and denounced on Tuesday tearing up a copy of the Holy Qur’an in The Hague.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the extremist move is a provocative step to the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world.

The Ministry affirmed the Kingdom’s firm position on spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance and coexistence, and rejecting the causes of hatred and extremism.

The statement came after Edwin Wagensveld, a far-right Dutch politician and the leader of the Islamophobic group Pegida, on Sunday tore out pages from a copy of the Holy Qur’an in The Hague.

Wagensveld’s video on Twitter showed that he burned the torn-out pages of the holy book in a pan.

This came less than two days after a Swedish politician named Rasmus Paludan from the Stram Kurs party, burnt a copy of the Holy Qur’an amid protests outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. — SG