UK school embroiled in Quran desecration row
Robert Carter
Press TV, London
A heated debate has been sparked following the news of four teenage students being suspended from a school in Wakefield, North England, over a Quran desecration incident.
Right-wingers in the media have condemned the suspensions. Alleging that pressure comes from Muslims, trying to enforce defacto-blasphemy laws.
The students at Kettlethorpe High School were removed after a copy of the Islamic holy text was partially torn and scuffed. It was brought into the school by a 10-Year pupil, reportedly as part of a dare.
Rumors quickly spread about the incident, some claiming the Quran had been burned. With a protest planned outside the school gates.
Amid growing community distress, police and religious leaders intervened - staging a press conference at a local Mosque.
A mother of one of the pupils involved apologized for her son's conduct.
After debunking some of the myths surrounding the story and after realizing the distress caused to an autistic teenager, the local protest was quickly abandoned. Local religious leaders called for calm and forgiveness.
Right-wing pundits, however, were not content to rest. Accusations of the family being forced to an apology sparked an online firestorm, with Islamophobic trolling in abundance.
News of a death threat circulated the headlines, with few reports adding the important context; the threat came from another student - not from Muslims in the wider community.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman adopted the idea of Muslims enforcing de facto blasphemy laws.
Onlookers have expressed concern over the Islamophobic spin being added to the story and a failure to properly represent the Muslim reaction.
Wakefield is a very short distance from Batley, another location for a 2022 blasphemy dispute over a teacher sharing insulting caricatures of Islam's Prophet. This year, Europe has seen regular Quran-burning protests by far-right activists. All this seems to have put Muslims on the defensive as their religious beliefs face regular attacks and mockery.
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