Man arrested after Koran ‘burned page by page’ at memorial for terror attack
Man arrested after Koran ‘burned page by page’ at memorial for terror attack
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A man has been arrested after the burning of a Koran was livestreamed on social media. Footage showed the man setting a copy of the holy book alight near the Glade of Light Memorial in Manchester’s St Peter’s Square, which commemorates the victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. The incident was broadcast live online on Saturday, and the man’s arrest by Greater Manchester Police was also filmed.
![[United Kingdom, Manchester 2nd February 2025 A man, known as the Homeless Hacker on social media burns a Quran in St Peter???s Square, Manchester as he claims to be a personal friend of Salwan Momika. Credit: Story Picture Agency]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SEI_238232352-c8cb.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Metro has chosen not to share footage of the book being burned, which is seen as a blasphemous act by Muslims as they consider the Koran to be the literal word of God. The footage showed a man using what appeared to be a lighter to set individual pages of the Koran alight. He then appeared to stomp on the smouldering pages, or held them up to a person recording him on their phone before dropping them to the floor.
Another video clip recorded a man surrounded by police officers as they appeared to be trying to usher him inside an open police van. Assistant Chief Constable Stephanie Parker told GB News: ‘We understand the deep concern this will cause within some of our diverse communities and are aware of a live video circulating. ‘We made a swift arrest at the time and recognise the right people have for freedom of expression, but when this crosses into intimidation to cause harm or distress we will always look to take action when it is reported to us.’.
A spokesperson for the force also said yesterday: ‘At around 2.45pm today (Saturday February 1, 2025) we arrested a 47-year-old man on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence following an incident in the city centre at the Glade of Light memorial. ‘He remains in custody currently for questioning. Anyone with further information is asked to call 101 quoting incident 3713 of 31/01/2025.’.
The incident in Manchester comes just days after a man on trial for burning the Koran in Sweden was shot dead during a livestream. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page. Arrow MORE: Makers of AI child abuse images to be jailed after UK introduces world-first law. Arrow MORE: US transport secretary reacts to plane crashes with ban on celebrating diversity.
