DEARBORN/HAMTRAMCK — Once again, far-right activist Jake Lang appeared in the Detroit area last week as part of his continuing efforts to incite hostility against Muslim Americans and provoke local communities through repeated attempts to burn copies of the Holy Quran.

The visits by the Jewish-born right-wing activist to Dearborn and Hamtramck on Sunday and Monday triggered heightened public and security tensions in both cities. While Lang’s appearance in Hamtramck was limited to a brief drive-through met by crowds of protesters opposing the desecration of the Holy Quran — including some armed members affiliated with the Black Panthers — Lang insisted on carrying out his “mission” in Dearborn on Monday by burning a copy of the Holy Quran near the Islamic Center of America on Ford Road despite being briefly detained by Dearborn police.

Lang, founder of the group Americans Against Islamization, which emerged last year, previously led a hostile demonstration against Dearborn’s Muslim community in November. During that protest, he erected a large cross and displayed slogans warning against the “Islamization of America” before desecrating the Holy Quran with slices of pork, stepping on it and preparing to burn it before a local activist intervened and rescued the holy book from his hands.

During that earlier visit, Lang also delivered inflammatory remarks before the Dearborn City Council in which he repeated derogatory insults targeting Muslims and accused them of systematically attempting to Islamize the “White Christian” United States through high birth rates and polygamy. He also called on federal authorities and President Trump to send more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) patrols to arrest and deport Arab and Muslim residents from the city.

Failed attempt in Hamtramck

Hundreds of demonstrators, including pro-Palestinian activists, socialist groups and members of the Black Panthers, gathered Sunday near Masjid Al-Islah at the intersection of Joseph Campau and Caniff in the heart of Hamtramck to confront Lang, who had threatened on social media to carry out “the largest book burning in U.S. history.”

During an 80-minute livestream on Facebook, the extremist activist — who also claims to be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Florida — repeated threats to burn hundreds of copies of the Holy Quran and books he described as promoting homosexuality in Hamtramck schools.

Lang addressed White Christians while claiming he had arrived in Muslim-majority Hamtramck, a city known for its many mosques, declaring that he intended to burn what he described as “the book of the pedophile prophet called the Quran.”

He falsely claimed that thousands of people were “hunting him down” and trying to kill him, while insisting he felt inner peace because he was “doing what God wants him to do.”

“Muhammad is dead, Moses is dead and all the others are dead, but Christ is the only one who is alive,” Lang declared, adding that he had prepared pork sandwiches using pages from the Holy Quran to offer protesters.

Demonstrators shout and wave flags during a counter-protest in response to a planned book burning in front of the Islamic Center of Hamtramck, May 10. – Photo courtesy of the Detroit News

As Lang issued threats from inside a rented U-Haul truck, a counter-protest gathered along Joseph Campau Avenue in Hamtramck for nearly three hours under heavy security involving the Hamtramck Police Department, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and the Michigan State Police.

Several speakers addressed the crowd, using loudspeakers, emphasizing constitutional rights and the need to confront far-right extremist voices seeking to undermine civil peace and spread division within American communities. They described calls to burn the Holy Quran as “a horrific idea.”

Lang had announced on Facebook that he planned to burn the Holy Quran outside Masjid Al-Islah at 5 p.m., but he did not appear until more than two hours later, limiting his actions to driving past the crowd in his rented truck.

Although Hamtramck Mayor Adam Alharbi stated that Lang and his supporters had not actually obtained an official permit to demonstrate, the only breach of calm occurred shortly after 7 p.m. when Lang’s truck approached the crowd. Protesters rushed toward the vehicle and one person struck it with a large stick while Lang shouted repeatedly, “Jesus is king.”

After fleeing the scene, Lang claimed during another livestream that he had been attacked by protesters, adding that he still carried hundreds of books in his truck, including religious texts, and intended to attempt another burning.

Jackson Roback, a Detroit resident and one of the organizers of the solidarity protest with Hamtramck’s Muslim community, told local media that demonstrators aimed to “drive” Lang out of “our communities.”

“I’m Muslim, and these people want to come to a Muslim-majority city to burn our holy book,” Roback said, insisting “they have no right to do that.”

Another protester, Joe Pico, said he attended the demonstration to prevent Lang and his group from repeating what they had attempted in Dearborn last November.

“They want to do the same thing here in Hamtramck, and we will not accept that,” Pico said.

Videos posted on YouTube showed protesters chanting slogans supporting immigrants and emphasizing collective strength against what they described as fascist ideology. Demonstrators stressed that community dignity and safety were red lines that could not be crossed and vowed to physically confront attempts to desecrate sacred books, including the Holy Quran, as had previously occurred in Dearborn.

They described Lang’s activities as desperate attempts to provoke outrage and gain online attention at the expense of local community stability.

Return to Dearborn

After his plans failed in Hamtramck, Lang and his supporters headed later that evening to Dearborn, just a few miles away. However, his bad luck quickly caught up with him when Dearborn police stopped him on Ford Road near the city limits for allegedly texting while driving.

He was later arrested on suspicion of possessing controlled substances after officers reportedly found psychedelic mushrooms inside his vehicle.

Following his arrest Sunday evening, Lang was briefly held at the local jail before later being released. Authorities have not yet released additional details regarding possible charges or the circumstances surrounding the arrest.

After his release, Lang posted a video on social media showing himself leaving police headquarters before contacting the department again to request permission allowing him and his followers to burn the Holy Quran outside the Islamic Center on Ford Road, considered the largest mosque in the United States.

Request for official permit

During a recorded phone conversation with a police lieutenant from the Dearborn Police Department, Lang attempted to exploit legal loopholes related to public burning ordinances, threatening to escalate the situation and ignite multiple fires if his request was denied. He argued that such acts amounted only to minor civil violations that should not result in arrest.

In an attempt to persuade the officer, Lang requested a permit similar to those issued to Jewish groups during Lag BaOmer celebrations, a Jewish holiday associated with bonfires.

Lang also used what he himself described as “the Jewish card”, telling the officer that his mother was of Ashkenazi Jewish descent from Russia. The officer responded that he would look into issuing the permit.

After the call ended, Lang admitted that “the Jewish card” carried “magical” influence and claimed using it usually produced the desired results.

Despite repeatedly distancing himself from Judaism and recently burning copies of the Talmud, Lang faces growing skepticism within some far-right circles that he seeks to appeal to through anti-Muslim rhetoric and anti-immigrant agitation.

Some extremists have labeled him a “Jewish agent” pretending to be Christian in order to advance intelligence agendas aimed at provoking hatred toward Muslims and dragging the United States into foreign conflicts benefiting Israel.

Leaked images from an earlier celebration of his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in occupied Jerusalem further intensified those suspicions among extremist groups. Although Lang attempted to dismiss the event as merely a “family trip” and repeatedly distanced himself from it, many hardline right-wing activists remained unconvinced.

Burning the Holy Quran

The following day, Monday, May 11, Lang returned to the area surrounding the Islamic Center of America and filmed himself burning a copy of the Holy Quran before protesters and Dearborn police officers quickly intervened to extinguish the flames.

Videos circulated on social media showing Lang setting the Holy Quran on fire in the presence of police, with one officer using a fire extinguisher to put out the flames before Lang pulled the damaged copy from the fire pit and threw it toward the Islamic Center of America.

Police have not yet released official details regarding the incident, which sparked widespread anger in Dearborn’s heavily Arab and Muslim community.

The city is also facing a lawsuit filed by Lang following the November incident, in which he alleged that he was physically assaulted and pepper-sprayed by a Dearborn police officer.

Observers say Lang’s repeated attempts to burn the Holy Quran in Muslim communities across several American cities — including Dearborn, Hamtramck, New York, Minneapolis and Euless, Texas — are primarily aimed at provoking Muslims and portraying them as “enemies” of America as part of a broader campaign seeking to deflect attention from Israel’s actions in Gaza during recent years, which have significantly damaged Israel’s image within American society.