Video: Man Rips, Burns Pages From Koran At Mosque Protest

Unidentified man in baseball cap, who burnt Koran, escorted by NYPD (Bucky Turco/Animal)

[Updated with video below] An unidentified man began ripping pages of the Koran and burning them today at a protest of the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero. "If they can burn American flags, I can burn the Koran. America should never be afraid to give their opinion," the Daily News reports he shouted.

According to Maggie Haberman, he also screamed, "I'm Mapplethorping the Quran!" Animal adds that the man was quickly taken by the NYPD and escorted away from the protest, trailed by a group of reporters.

The News attributes the unidentified man's behavior to Pastor Terry Jones, who earlier this week threatened to hold a Koran-burning on Sept. 11. But didn't the man hear, Jones called off the burning this morning on The Today Show! Doesn't he watch NBC on Saturday mornings?

Update: You can see video of the scene, including the man tearing the pages and the resulting media crush, courtesy of Animal's Bucky Turco.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on September 11, 2010 2:35 PM

Comments [rss]

sharpshoota

These "patriots"= same idiots that use to wear sheets and burn crosses. This stuff brings out all the dumbasses.

exnyer

Why not follow our lead....Roanoke Rapids, N.C. — An 18-year-old woman was charged Friday with trying to smuggle cigarettes hidden in a Bible to an inmate in the Halifax County Jail.

fosiacat

in fairness, he does have the right to burn it, just as "they" burn american flags.

doesn't make him any less of a fat tacky midwesterner thats trying to jump on the coat tails of bullshit media-driven fury, but its his right none the less.

it would be unamerican to argue otherwise.

S.D.

And no one is saying he doesn't have the right.

He's completely free to be a big Beer Belly A_____e as much as he wants. Problem is: The news of Beer Belly's "action" will be used as propaganda and endanger our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. That's the problem, others will suffer the consequence of his actions, not him.

All while he's at home having his beer and watching a football game.

valeriob

I was right there alongside the cameras the entire time- this was SO UNEVENTFUL. All of these cameramen were there just foaming for one person to do something and they (we) followed in droves. It was early, nothing was going on yet.

I thought the old dude near the Hilton wiping his ass with pages of the Koran was more newsworthy.

whitecastlerock

I wonder how much overtime the cops raked in yesterday...

InDaDrops

Why are you media covering this shit? Seriously - what mentor taught you that this was newsworthy? What impact does this guy even HAVE in the world without your cameras? This isn't news. This is a crackpot being abetted by a bunch of media lemmings.

robingee

Any person who truly has faith in their religion isn't going to care if someone burns a book. Everyone needs to grow the F up and say "Who cares what this one idiot does?"

Dogsbody

Agreed completely. It's a book. Who cares.

My wife loves Harry Potter. I doubt she'd give a shit if anyone decided to burn their own copy of a Harry Potter book though.

inoyourider

This is America losing.

Detex

+1

freddynyc

Did he wipe his ass with the pages?

JacqueMehoff

he said he did, he said it's better than charmin and he never had any ass problems since using the Koran pages as toilet paper. yeah, they were out there today.

it was quite funny because people were taking pictures of a cute baby for religious rights and he wanted some of the action.

Sulayman

OK, what does "Mapplethorping" mean?

freddynyc

haha philistine....

exnyer

Lets make believe it didn`t happen......

totalgentleman

im getting physically ill with this coverage.

Billiamsburg

cool. sounds like a true patriot. give him his own show fox!

nevilleross

Hey dipshit, why not enlist and fight 'the terrorists' overseas? Oh yeah, I forget; because your white ass wouldn't last a day in basic training, and you'd wash out, just like that.