Footage from Swedish radio station SVT showed how the initiator of the protest, Salwan Momika, pinned a copy of the Holy Scriptures of Islam behind police tape. In addition to him, apparently only one other man took part in the action. However, dozens of people gathered behind the barriers, some shouting angry words. Overall, however, it remained quiet according to the broadcaster.
Swedish courts gave permission for the action
A person holding a stone was therefore led away from the site. The police in the Swedish capital had previously approved the protest in front of the Stockholm mosque in the Södermalm district after other actions of this kind were banned in February. Swedish courts had ruled that the police did not have the right to refuse permission to burn the Koran.
Anti-Islamic actions in Stockholm – including the burning of the Koran and the hanging of a doll depicting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – sparked considerable anger between Sweden and Turkey earlier this year. These quarrels came at a bad time for Sweden, as the Scandinavian country has been working for the past year to have Turkey abandon its blocking stance on Sweden’s NATO bid.
Ankara justifies its previous blockade of Sweden’s admission to the western military alliance primarily with the fact that the country is a haven for “terrorists”. This primarily refers to members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Hungary has not yet agreed to Sweden joining NATO either. At the forthcoming NATO summit on July 11-12 in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, Sweden is hoping for progress towards NATO membership.
It is unclear to what extent Wednesday’s burning of the Koran will cause new problems for Swedish-Turkish relations. Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also did not want to speculate, as he said at a press conference. Regarding the action, he said that this was allowed, but not appropriate.
nob/kle (afp, dpa)
Source: DW
