WASHINGTON 鈥� A group鈥檚 plans to burn a Quran outside the White House were foiled聽Saturday.
Saying that they were there to block the spread of 鈥渂igotry鈥� and 鈥渓ies,鈥� counter-protesters held up sheets to obscure the original group from view. They also yelled聽to drown out their chants.
鈥淚 guess you can call them Islamophobes,鈥� said John Zangas, a Marine who was one of the counter-protesters.
Ed Spiker, who was part of the original group of protesters, characterized his group as a bunch of frustrated Americans.聽鈥淲e鈥檙e just people who are a little fed up with the lack of effort from our government to fight radical Islam,鈥� Spiker said.
Despite the counter protests, it鈥檚 unclear, whether the group that staged the initial protest intended to go through with the act of burning the Quran, which is the Muslim holy book.
鈥淒ue to federal law we can鈥檛 do that here,鈥� said Spiker. 鈥淪o it was just more of metaphorical roast and to just bring awareness of the radical ideology within the Quran.鈥�
Initial reports were that someone had stolen the copy that the group intended to burn.
Jordan Denari, who is Catholic, was part of the counter-protest.聽鈥淚 do work to educate the public about Islamphobia,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o, I figured it would be important to be here.鈥�
