This content was published on June 28, 2023 – 1:19 PM. Jun 28, 2023 – 1:19 p.m
Copenhagen, 28 June (EFE). – This Wednesday, a person burned a copy of the Koran next to a mosque in Stockholm. This was the first act of its kind to be authorized by Swedish police, after the courts recently overturned a previous ban by appealing to authorities on security grounds.
The event, with around 200 participants and a strong police presence, passed without serious incidents, although one person was arrested by the police for carrying a stone.
According to the online edition of the tabloid Aftonbladet, Salwan Momika, of Iraqi descent, assured Momika that he wanted to criticize Islam before setting the Koran on fire.
The protest came on a day when Muslim believers around the world celebrate Eid al Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice.
The burning of a copy of the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy last January by Danish-Swedish far-right Rasmus Paludan sparked a wave of protests abroad, including in Turkey, which maintains a deadlock on ratifying Sweden’s NATO entry a year ago the Madrid Summit.
Swedish police in February decided to refuse permission for two requests to burn the Koran, citing the risks such acts could pose to Sweden’s security. But the judiciary rejected this argument in several cases in the following months.
“The order and safety issues to which the police are referring do not have a sufficiently clear connection with the planned meetings to refuse the permit,” an administrative appeals court said in a ruling earlier this month.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called today’s act “provocative” and admitted it was “legal but not ideal”.
“I’m not going to give the troublemakers the attention they want. They try to provoke and insult others. My focus is on Sweden joining NATO as soon as possible because it is important for Swedish security and for our region,” he said.
Sweden and Finland, which ended their historic military non-alignments following Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, saw their NATO membership bids accepted a year ago after reaching a last-minute deal with Turkey to lift their veto.
But while Finland was accepted as a full member at the beginning of April, Sweden is still waiting to overcome the reluctance of Turkey and Hungary.
Budapest has criticized Sweden’s “hostile” stance, noting that a “large number of complaints” need to be resolved, while Ankara accuses this Nordic country of not extraditing people linked to organizations it deems terrorist, in particular from the Kurdish area. EFE
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