Pastor's plan to burn 3000 Korans thwarted

An image from Fox News shows Pastor Terry Jones. He was pulled over by police, allegedly carrying copies of the Koran to burn on September 11.

US law enforcement arrested a Florida pastor as he drove to a park to light nearly 3,000 Korans on fire to protest the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Pastor Terry Jones, 61, and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp Jr., 34, on felony charges as he drove a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Korans soaked in kerosene. He had said he was heading to a nearby park to burn 2,998 Korans - one for every victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Sheriff's officials said they would hold a news conference later today to discuss specific charges.

Mulberry's mayor, along with area elected officials, a sheriff's deputy and several Polk County residents have talked about the need to express love and tolerance for all faiths on Sept. 11.

Jones is the pastor of a small evangelical Christian church. He first gained attention in 2010 when he planned to burn a Koran on 9/11, although he eventually called it off. His congregation did burn the Muslim holy book in March 2011 and last year he promoted an anti-Muslim film. All three incidents sparked violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

The most violent protest happened after the 2011 Koran burning as hundreds of protesters stormed a UN compound in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, killing seven foreigners, including four Nepalese guards.

Jones has repeatedly ignored pleas from the US military asking him not to stage his protests. Military officials say his actions put American and Western troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere in danger.

Mulberry is a town of about 3,000 between Orlando and Tampa and has no connection to Jones' church, which recently moved out of its Gainesville building.

An Egyptian court convicted Jones, along with seven Egyptian Coptic Christians in absentia, sentencing them to death on charges linked to the film. The ruling was seen as largely symbolic because Jones and the other defendants live outside of Egypt.

Just last week, a federal judge in Michigan issued a summary judgment in favour of Jones and his organisation, Stand Up America Now, against the city of Dearborn for requiring Jones and his organisation to sign a city-issued agreement in order to speak on public property in front of a Dearborn mosque in 2012.

Earlier today, about 75 people gathered In Mulberry for an interfaith prayer service to counter Jones' actions.

Mike Ghouse, who has organised a 9/11 prayer service in his home state of Texas for nine years, brought his event to Mulberry because of Jones' planned Koran burning. He initially had planned to hold the service in Texas but teamed with a group of Mulberry residents who had organised an anti-Jones Facebook page.

"Everyone has a right to believe what they believe," said Ghouse, adding that it was Jones' right as an American to express himself. Others said that while Jones was free to say or do whatever he wanted, the people of Mulberry didn't want the world to think that the residents condone or agree with Jones' views.

"We don't buy what Jones is selling," said Polk County resident Butch Rahman.

-AP