Yemeni protesters call for boycott of Swedish, Danish products
Crowds of Yemenis have taken to the streets throughout the capital Sana'a to censure the desecration of Islam's holy book Qur'an in Sweden and Denmark, calling for the boycott of all goods produced in the two countries.
In a statement on Monday, the protesters blasted the burning of the highly sacred scriptures in the two European Union nations as “heinous crimes,” blaming the Israeli regime for instigating such sacrilegious acts.
The statement also called on all Muslim countries to expel Swedish and Danish ambassadors and boycott all products from the two Western nations, as well as products of any country that allows such blasphemous acts on its territory.
The angry protesters further emphasized that Sweden and Denmark “must apologize to all Muslims and pledge never to grant permits” for such criminal actions again.
Addressing the crowds, the deputy minister of guidance and Hajj and Umrah affairs, Fouad Naji, pointed out that “the economic boycott is an effective weapon.”
He noted that Yemen is going to boycott all Swedish and Danish products.
The Yemeni official noted that “The Zionist, Jewish lobby is behind those who burned a copy of the Qur’an”, adding that the Israeli regime “wants to divert attention from what’s going on in occupied Palestine and the crisis that is gripping the temporary entity.”
Months of unprecedented anti-regime protests have rocked the occupied Palestinian territories since January when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced a judicial overhaul plan that critics describe as a threat to the independence of the courts.
Intense outrage has spread throughout Muslim countries and Islamic communities across the globe since earlier this month when a man set ablaze a copy of the Qur’an in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, while enjoying government and police protection.
On Thursday, a second act of state-sanctioned desecration took place in Sweden.
That was followed by a similar incident in Denmark when a man set fire to a copy of the Qur’an on a square across from the Iraqi embassy in Copenhagen on Friday.
In yet another affront to Islam, two members of an extremist Danish group desecrated a copy of the Holy Qur’an in Copenhagen on Monday.
