Words by Alyson Robinson
Florida pastor, Terry Jones, was arrested yesterday while on his mission to do his part to cleanse America of Qurans. Jones drove to the park to light 3,000 Qurans to protest symbolically on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Jones, a pastor of a small evangelical church in Gainesville, Florida, was arrested on felony charges as he was driving a pick-up truck filled with 2,998 Qurans, that he intended to represent each victim in the attack 12 years ago. He was stopped while “towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qurans soaked in kerosene,” the AP reports.
It’s reported that Jones actually attempted this previously.
“He first gained attention in 2010 when he planned to burn a Quran on 9/11, although he eventually called it off. His congregation did burn the Muslim holy book in March 2011 and last year he promoted an anti-Muslim film. All three incidents sparked violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The most violent protest happened after the 2011 Quran burning as hundreds of protesters stormed a U.N. compound in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, killing seven foreigners, including four Nepalese guards.”- AP
Jones has been asked by the military to cease his efforts because of the potential backlash the troops could experience abroad.