Florida officials have arrested preacher Terry Jones who was on his way to a Sept. 11 Koran BBQ, where he was planning to burn 2,998 Korans, according to news reports.
Jones is renowned for provoking Muslims around the world with his Koran burning events.
This time law enforcement officials got in his way before the pyro-pastor was able to carry out his plans.
Jones had announced his plan to set fire to 2,998 Korans in a Polk County, Florida park to mark the 12-year anniversary. Each Koran is “representing one of the victims, every person who was murdered by Islam,” according to his press release. According to the LA Times, this figure may have accidentally included the 19 hijackers.
County officials had denied the pastor’s permit application to use the park for the pyre.
Jones, 61, was arrested on felony charges after a traffic stop near a pharmacy in Mulberry, a small town in Polk County, just before 5 p.m. He faces charges of unlawfully transporting fuel and openly carrying a firearm.
Deputies said Jones was riding in a pickup truck that was towing a smoker and trailer filled with kerosene-soaked Korans. He also had extra bottles of kerosene inside the truck bed.
In 2010, Jones cancelled the scheduled burning of 200 Korans after federal officials warned him that the burning could put U.S. troops at risk and boost Al Qaeda recruitment.
Book burning by Christians is an old tradition. In 1242, king Louis IX of France ordered the burning of 24 cartloads of Talmud volumes (about 12,000 altogether). Talmud burnings were very in throughout Christian Europe in the 11th through the 14th centuries.
And, of course, in the 20th century, the Nazis revived this tradition, burning Jewish manuscripts (and Jewish “influenced” books as well) wherever they could.
Incidentally, according to About.com, among the victims of 9/11 were several dozen innocent Muslims, ranging in age from their late 60s to a couple’s unborn child. Six of these victims were Muslim women, including one who was 7 months pregnant. Many were stockbrokers or restaurant workers.