Is There a Sound if No One Shows Up to Watch Shredding of Quran?

South Florida resident Mark Dixon Rowley proceeded with his planned shredding of the Quran on Monday, methodically feeding page after page into an electric shredder at a Boca Raton park.

Surrounded by at least six city police officers and a bomb-sniffing police dog, Rowley began shredding a copy of the Islamic holy book at noon at Sanborn Square. No protesters had appeared.

Rowley, who has in the past carried a sign stating, "Disrespect Rape: Shred a Koran," maintains that the Islamic prophet Mohammed "approved of rape, pregnancy by rape as a blessing ordained by Allah, and the practice of extorting money or property to secure the release of the rape victim."

He initially applied for a city permit to burn a Quran, but when Rowley was informed that no burning was allowed, he reapplied to shred. Boca Raton officials then ruled that no permit was required, since Sanborn Square is a "First Amendment" venue.

But, in a letter to Rowley last week, Deputy City Manager George Brown added: "On behalf of the mayor and city council and city administration, we find the prospect of the deliberate desecration of a sacred text to be abhorrently offensive. We request that you not proceed with this act."

After previously threatening to torch a Quran, Gainesville pastor Terry Jones carried out a little-noticed burning at his Dove Outreach Center on March 20. Two weeks later, Muslim mobs killed 11 workers at a U.N. compound in Afghanistan. News accounts at the time blamed Jones' action for the deadly rampage.