The Koran is among books have been sent by the campaign group Index on Censorship to the United Kingdom Independence Party, some of whose members were involved in the attack on a left wing bookshop in central London earlier this month.
Following the attack on Bookmarks bookshop near the British Museum, the campaign group said: “We believe reading broadens the mind and helps to create a more tolerant and inclusive society. So we’re sending some of the books we’ve been featuring ahead of next month’s Banned Books Week to those involved. The books include The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, a book burned in the Nazi bonfires of 1933 because of Sinclair’s socialist views, as well as The Color Purple [by Alice Walker], The Handmaid’s Tale [by Margaret Atwood] and a copy of the Koran. We’re sending them to UKIP, which has suspended the attackers as members, in the hope they will forward these on to them as something to read during their suspension.”
Index is a non-profit pressure group which campaigns for freedom of expression around the world. Its London offices are close to Penguin Random House in Pimlico. “