No bonfire, but stray incidents of Quran abuse

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: The ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States on Saturday saw at least four incidents of abuse of the Quran, triggered by a now-withdrawn threat by a Florida pastor to torch the Muslim holy book.
A small group of conservative Christians tore some pages from a Quran in a protest outside the White House to denounce what they called the “charade of Islam”.
“Part of why we’re doing that, please hear me: the charade that Islam is a peaceful religion must end,” said Randall Terry, an anti-abortion campaigner, and one of six people who took part in the protest.
Another activist, Andrew Beacham, read out a few Quran passages calling for hatred towards Christians and Jews, and then ripped those pages from an English paperback edition of the Islamic holy book. The tiny protest came following pastor Terry Jone’s threat to burn the Quran.
In New York, one man protesting against the proposed Islamic center tore pages from the Quran, and set them alight. In another incident in the city, a man tore pages from a copy of the Quran and made vulgar gestures with it.
Near Nashville, Tennessee, evangelical Pastor Bob Old and another preacher used lighter fluid and a lighter to burn at least two copies of the Quran in his yard. There were no reports of any arrests.