Swedish police have given permission for a demonstration in which the organiser intends to burn a Qur’an outside Stockholm’s major mosque on Wednesday, the first day of the Muslim three-day Eid Al-Adha festival.
In the written judgement, the police said that the security threats linked with the burning “were not of a nature that could justify, under current laws, a decision to reject the request.”
The approval came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court overturned the police’s decision to refuse licences for two protests in Stockholm that included the burning of Qur’ans.
Police claimed security concerns at the time, after the burning of the Muslim holy book outside Turkiye’s embassy in January, which sparked weeks of demonstrations and demands for a boycott of Swedish products, further stalling Sweden’s NATO membership quest.
Turkiye, which has rejected the request because of Stockholm’s inability to fight down on Kurdish organisations it considers “terrorists,” took special exception that police had allowed the January march.
Two additional requests for demonstrations including Qur’an burnings were denied by police, one by a single person and the other by an organisation, outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm in February.
The appeals court concluded in mid-June that the police were incorrect to prohibit them, stating that “the order and security problems” mentioned by the police did not have “a sufficiently clear connection to the planned event or its immediate vicinity.”
The Wednesday rally was requested by the same private person who had his earlier request denied.
“I want to demonstrate in front of Stockholm’s huge mosque and share my views on the Qur’an… “I will tear up and burn the Qur’an,” Salwan Momika, 37, stated in the application, a copy of which AFP received.
To preserve order, police said they had brought in troops from throughout the nation on Wednesday.
Several police vehicles were already stationed near the mosque, according to an AFP journalist.
Swedish lawmakers have condemned Qur’an burnings while also vehemently defending the right to free speech.
