Sweden: Danish far-right party leader burns Qur’an under police protection
By Atila Altuntas
STOCKHOLM (AA): The Danish leader of the far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party burned a copy of the Holy Qur’an on Thursday in a heavily-populated Muslim area in Sweden.
Rasmus Paludan, accompanied by police, went to an open public space in southern Linkoping and placed the Muslim holy book down and burned it while ignoring protests from onlookers.
Video footage shows the moments of Qur’an burning by Paludan as he stands behind the security tape set by Swedish police.
Muslims shouting against Paludan’s attempt can be heard in the video.
About 200 demonstrators gathered in the square to protest.
The group urged police not to allow the racist leader to carry out his action.
After the police ignored the calls, incidents broke out and the group closed the road to traffic, pelting stones at police.
Turkish-born politician Mikail Yuksel, who founded the Party of Different Colors in Sweden, said the Islamophobic provocations of the racist anti-Islamist politician under police protection continue in cities across Sweden.
Yuksel said Paludan chooses neighborhoods that are particularly heavily populated by Muslims and places near mosques for provocations.
“In Sweden, which defends human rights, freedom of religion and conscience with the highest pitch, the Qur’an is burned in the neighborhoods of Muslims under the protection of the police.”
He added that police also call for Muslims to exercise common sense as their holy books are being burned right before their eyes.
In November 2020, the prosecution in Sweden decided to drop the preliminary investigation into the burning of the Qur’an, arguing that burning of the holy book is “not illegal”.
The case is related to a protest on the streets of Malmo where far-right demonstrators burned a copy of the Qur’an in late August, 2020.
[Map of Sweden by CIA/Public Domain]
The post Sweden: Danish far-right party leader burns Qur’an under police protection appeared first on The Muslim News.