The planned action is to take place on Wednesday afternoon in front of a mosque. A large police force is mobilized. Turkey, which has since blocked Sweden from joining NATO, had already filed a similar action in January.
The public burning of the Koran will take place in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, on Wednesday afternoon. Police granted an application after several courts in the spring upheld claims from applicants that they had been banned from carrying out such actions. More recently, in January, the burning of a Koran in front of the Turkish embassy caused international reactions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said, among other things, that Sweden could not join NATO as long as the Koran could be burned in Sweden. The action will take place in front of a mosque in the central district of Södermalm. According to media reports, the police requested reinforcements from across the country.
“Danger of Security Situation”
In February, police banned two requests to burn the Koran, claiming the actions would endanger the security situation in Sweden. Both claimants appealed. Two courts involved in the matter agreed with the rejected applicants, referring to the guaranteed freedom of assembly. A police appeal was denied. Police approved the planned action on Wednesday, saying it could have “foreign policy consequences”.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference he considered the planned action “inappropriate” but legal. When asked by journalists, he declined to speculate on how the approved burning of the Koran could jeopardize Sweden’s application for NATO membership. Sweden would like to complete the process of joining the military alliance at the NATO meeting in Vilnius in two weeks. Turkey and Hungary have not yet ratified the desired accession.
Critics of Iraq’s Islam as Candidates
According to media reports, only two people have announced that they will participate in the planned “protest action”. Portal news agency identified Salwan Momika from Iraq as the applicant. Momika describes herself as a critic of Islam. He was one of two previously rejected candidates for burning the Koran. An exact time is not known. It is feared that the move could coincide with the end of a prayer session in connection with the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.
In February, the Nato-critical cultural association “Apallarkerna” also unsuccessfully requested permission to burn the Koran. Its chairman, Chris Makoundoul, said that they really didn’t want to burn the Quran, it was more about the approval itself. Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan was responsible for the Koran burning in January.