Unrest broke out in southern Sweden late on Saturday despite police moving a rally by an anti-Islam far-right group, which was planning to burn a Qur’an among other things, to a new location as a preventive measure.
Scuffles and unrest were reported in the southern town of Landskrona after a demonstration scheduled there by the Danish right-wing party Stram Kurs party was moved to the nearby city of Malmo, 27 miles south.
Opponents of Stram Kurs numbering up to 100 mostly young people threw stones, set cars, tires and dustbins on fire, and put up a barrier fence that obstructed traffic, Swedish police said. The situation had calmed down in Landskrona by late Saturday but remains tense, police said, adding no injuries were reported.
The cops eventually withdrew from the area, thereby encouraging rioters to continue the orgy of violence in other Swedish cities of Norrköping, Rinkeby, Stockholm and Orebro. “The mood has been aggressive and there have been attacks against police at the scene,” remarked police spokesperson Asa Willsund.
On Friday (April 15), riots broke out in the Swedish city of Örebro during which a violent mob attacked the police and engaged in arson attacks. As per a report published by Reuters, the rioters pelted stones, broke through police cordons and set 4 vehicles on fire.
The Quran burning event by Stram Kurs
The chief of the Danish anti-immigration party, Rasmus Paludan, had announced to burn a copy of the Quran in the Muslim-dominated neighbourhood of Linkoping. While a large mob of 200 odd Muslims had gathered to protest against the act of ‘blasphemy’, Stram Kurs chief went ahead and set the book ablaze.
Thereafter, the frenzied mob began pelting stones at the police, closed the road for vehicular movement and carried out arson attacks. Mikail Yuksel, the founder of the Party of Different Colors in Sweden, has accused Paludan of provoking Muslims by indulging in blasphemous acts outside mosques and in Muslim-majority areas.
He had claimed, “In Sweden, which defends human rights, freedom of religion and conscience with the highest pitch, the Qur’an is burned in the neighbourhoods of Muslims under the protection of the police.
It must be mentioned that the party was given permission to hold the Quran burning event by the police, which later disbanded it due to the deteriorating law and order situation.
While reacting to the violence, National Police Chief Anders Thornberg said, “We live in a democratic society and one of the most important tasks of the police is to ensure that people can use their constitutionally protected rights to demonstrate and express their opinions…The police do not get to choose who has this right, but must always intervene in case of violation.”
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