A man named Hamit Coskun was attacked on Friday by a knife-wielding Islamist after he burned a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London.
Both were detained by British police and later released on bail.
Video posted to social media reveals the attacker kicking and slashing a weapon towards Coskun before spitting on him, grabbing the Koran out of his hands and walking away.
Coskun was charged under the Public Order Act of 1986 for a “religiously aggravated” public order offense.
Coskun’s motivation for burning the Koran was to do it “for Salwan Momika,” showing solidarity with the Swedish critic of Islam who had been killed on January 29 for similar actions.
He later posted on social media, “While I was burning the Quran, I was attacked with a knife. The ambulance and the police came.”
The threat from Islamist extremism is growing across Europe. In Austria, a 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker recently stabbed and killed a 14-year-old girl. Police later found Islamic state flags in his apartment.
