The fringe pastor of a small Florida church, who had planned to burn 200 Qur'ans on the Sept. 11 anniversary, boarded a flight to New York City on Friday night, according to an associate.
Rev. Terry Jones was expected to land there at 10:15 p.m. local time, said K.A. Paul, who runs a ministry near Houston. Jones flew out of Orlando and Paul bought his ticket, he told The Associated Press.
Jones' son Luke said that the Qur'an burning would not be held on Saturday, but he couldn't confirm whether or not his father would hold the event at a later date.
Meanwhile, the Muslim leader behind a planned Islamic centre near Ground Zero said earlier on Friday that no meeting had been set up with Jones.
New York Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf contradicted earlier reports that he was set to meet with Jones to talk about moving the controversial New York mosque.
Jones said Thursday that a meeting had been struck, and that he would not carry out his Qur'an burning if the mosque was moved further away from Ground Zero.
But on Friday, Rauf said he wasn't aware of the meeting, which was apparently brokered by a Muslim leader Thursday in central Florida.
"I am prepared to consider meeting with anyone who is seriously committed to pursuing peace," Rauf said in a prepared statement.
"We have no such meeting planned at this time. Our plans for the community centre have not changed. With the solemn day of September 11 upon us, I encourage everyone to take time for prayer and reflection."
Adding to the confusion on Friday, Jones said he was waiting to hear from Rauf directly.
It is unclear whether Jones will permanently cancel the protest, or if he will just put in on hold, said CTV's Tom Walters, reporting from Gainesville.
"I'm not even sure pastor Jones knows what's going to happen tomorrow," Walters said.
"In the meantime the plan for the burning of Qur'ans is on hold and his intention is to be in New York for the weekend. So he will not be here tomorrow night and every indication is there won't be any burning tomorrow night but he has not ruled out any burning in the future."
The plan has sparked international outrage and has been condemned by both Christian and Muslim leaders.
Politicians such as U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have slammed the Qur'an burning, along with Defence Minister Peter MacKay and U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
Many fear the event, if held, will lead to a spike in recruitment for extremist groups such as al Qaeda and result in renewed attacks against coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Thousands of Afghans took part in a demonstration against Jones' plan on Friday. Several hundred of the demonstrators reportedly ran towards a NATO compound and clashed with police, resulting in four attackers and five police being injured.
In another protest in western Farah province, two people were injured.
Walters said many are beginning to question why one man has attracted so much attention.
"It does raise interesting questions because clearly this is a deeply offensive act if it were to go ahead, and it's an easy thing to threaten, so it begs the question how much can one person attain and is the media complicit in providing that attention?" Walters said.
With files from The Associated Press
