OSLO – The leader of a Norwegian anti-Islamic group was involved in a spectacular automobile chase and crash on Saturday, just minutes after burning a Qur’an on Oslo’s outskirts.
The driver of a car accused of purposely ramming the SUV of Lars Thorsen, leader of the extreme group “Stop the Islamization of Norway,” was arrested, according to Norwegian police (Sian).
According to authorities, five of the SUV’s passengers were slightly injured, with one requiring hospital care.
Thorsen and other activists were initially seen driving to Mortensrud, an Oslo suburb with a strong Muslim community, in a video broadcast on Facebook.
The activists then set fire to a Qur’an in the middle of a minor intersection, first pushing back locals who tried to put out the flames.
An enraged mob gathered, including one woman who seized the burnt book before boarding a grey Mercedes.
The anti-Islam campaigners’ SUV, which was painted in camouflage livery, then drove away. However, it was overtaken by the Mercedes, which hit it lightly at first and then at high speed, toppling the vehicle.
Someone in a trailing automobile filmed the entire thing.
The shooting happened just a week after a gunman killed two people and injured 21 others in central Oslo.
The attack was labeled a terrorist strike by Norway’s internal intelligence service.
In recent years, far-right anti-Islam extremists in Scandinavia have made a practice of burning Qur’ans in neighborhoods with large Muslim populations.