A controversial Florida pastor who planned to protest outside a Dearborn mosque Friday instead spent the day in court, and briefly went to jail.
Terry Jones last month burned a Quran in Florida, sparking deadly riots in Afghanistan. That prompted a jury to decide that his protest against Islam could lead to violence in Dearborn.
Jones refused to pay a symbolic $1 peace bond, leading to his arrest.
Susan Morgan of Dearborn attended an interfaith rally in a cold, hard rain outside the Henry Ford Centennial Library Friday afternoon, as the trial continued in the courthouse nearby.
“We’d really like our tax money to be spent someplace better, and not wasted on this," Morgan says. "This has been going on for three or four weeks for us here in Dearborn.”
Some participants in the rally said although they disagreed with Joneses’ message, they supported his right to free speech, including Ghada Saleh. She's originally from Lebanon, but has lived in Dearborn for 37 years.
“He has the right to express his opinion about whatever he wants," Saleh says. "But what he stands for is totally wrong. As a Christian person, he should know that burning the Quran is an insult to Jesus.”
Jones has been ordered to stay away from the mosque and adjacent property for three years.
