Protests over 9/11 anniversary plan to burn Koran spread to capital

MUSLIMS demonstrated outside Edinburgh's US Consulate yesterday in opposition to plans by a small American church to burn copies of the Koran.

The group of about 40 protesters who chanted "White House, terrorist, Pentagon, terrorist", demanded the US government intervene and make sure no books are destroyed.

• Pastor calls off planned Koran burning after global protests

The demonstration took place before the American pastor who had threatened to burn the holy book, announced an about-turn.

Terry Jones, pastor of the church in Gainesville, Florida, originally planned to burn the Muslim holy book on 11 September, the ninth anniversary of the attack on the twin towers in New York. Last night Mr Jones announced that he had called off the book-burning after he agreed to meet the imam of a proposed mosque in New York, close to the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks. He claimed the imam had agreed to change the location of the mosque.

Last night, it was reported that property billionaire Donald Trump has offered to buy out one of the major investors in the partnership building the 13-storey Islamic centre and mosque.