Riots and clashes erupted in an immigrant neighborhood in Sweden’s third-largest city after a notorious anti-Islam activist burned another copy of the Quran in another protest.
Authorities in the southern coastal city of Malmö said dozens of cars, including in an underground garage, were set on fire, and rioters threw stones at them. They described the events that occurred last September 3rd and lasted overnight as “a violent riot.”
A woman was arrested and detained by authorities in Sweden on August 18th after attempting to stop another Quran-burning demonstration, this time outside the Iranian Embassy in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, by the notorious Iraqi protester and refugee Salwan Momika by spraying him with a fire extinguisher.
After a series of controversial protests involving burning the Quran, which sparked outrage from Muslims worldwide, Sweden approved a new protest, but this time would involve burning the Torah and the Bible.
Swedish authorities have approved a protest involving the burning of Torahs and Bibles outside the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden’s national radio broadcaster reported https://t.co/PXe3uL0T8B
In response to the most recent Quran-burning incident in Sweden, where an Iraqi immigrant burned the religious book in front of a mosque in Stockholm last June, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution on July 12th on religious hatred, condemning the acts of burning the Islamic holy book in Sweden.
Six months after a far-right Swedish-Danish activist and politician enraged the entire Muslim community by publicly burning the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, another Quran-burning stunt occurred in the capital, this time during the celebration of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.
A week after far-right Danish-Swedish activist Rasmus Paludan burned the Quran in Sweden, which sparked outrage across the Muslim world, Swedish authorities have reportedly denied giving a Muslim man permission to burn the Torah in front of the Israeli embassy as a protest.
Several Muslim countries have condemned Sweden over an incident where a far-right Danish-Swedish politician and activist held an anti-Islam demonstration and burned the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in the capital Stockholm.
41-year-old Rasmus Paludan, also the head of the far-right Danish party Stram Kurs, was permitted by Swedish police to hold the protest, which was surrounded by authorities.
Sweden’s government has been criticized for enacting a policy that would seek to halt the establishment of denominational schools in the country, saying the move selectively targets Muslim schools.
Earlier in 2022, Lena Axelsson Kihlblom, the former Education Minister, said in a press conference that the previous government, under then-Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democratic Party, passed a bill aiming for "banning the establishment of so-called independent religious schools” in the Nordic country.
More than 40 people were injured in Sweden over the violent riots over the weekend. The clashes were sparked by rallies organized by a far-right, anti-immigrant organization called Stram Kurs (Hard Line).
Lars Vilks, the Swedish artist who became controversial in 2007 for drawing the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body, died in a car accident on Sunday, October 3, 2021. According to investigators, the collision also killed two police officers who were escorting Vilks. The accident happened in the municipality of Markaryd, Kronoberg County, in southern Sweden.
