Sian will burn the Koran outside the Turkish embassy on Friday.
The police say no.
The Oslo police say to TV 2 that they cannot ensure security in a satisfactory manner at this event.
– It will be too easy, says Danby Choi, editor of the online magazine Subjekt.
– It is not the police’s job to stop demonstrations. It is the police’s job to facilitate them.
Kjersti Løken Stavrum, head of the Freedom of Expression Commission, says she has confidence in the police’s decision, but believes it is important that the police are now transparent.
– I basically have a lot of trust in the police precisely in matters of Sian’s right to demonstrate.
Stavrum is also general manager of Stiftelsen Tinius and chairman of Blommenholm Industrier, Oslo.
TRUST: Kjersti Løken Stavrum hopes the police will be transparent about the information they possess. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB
Sweden’s matter of principle
According to Stavrum, the fact that the police now have information that means they cannot guarantee the safety of the event is unfortunate. Among other things, she points to the backdrop of Norway’s ambassador being summoned to the carpet in Turkey.
– This will be taken as a victory for Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and religious sentiments. And it will also distort Sweden’s principled message in the same matter.
– I therefore hope that the police can be open and clear afterwards about what information they now have.
But at this point, police are tight-lipped about what they know.
WORD KNAPP: Police Inspector Martin Strand will not say what kind of information the police have, which is now causing them to cancel Sian’s planned celebration on Friday. Photo: Per Haugen / TV 2
Safety
Police inspector in the Oslo police district, Martin Strand, says the police have sent a letter to Sian stating that they cannot carry out their demonstration.
– Based on intelligence information, we have assessed that it is not safe enough to carry out this event.
But what intelligence information the police possess, Strand is tight-lipped about.
– I don’t want to go into that. It is about the security situation for those who will be at this demonstration, says Strand to TV 2.
CRITICAL: Subject editor Danby Choi is critical of the police’s decision to cancel Sian’s planned Koran burning next Friday. Photo: Tom Rune Orset / TV 2
Subject editor Danby Choi believes that “everything possible” can be hidden behind the security argument.
– A problem with the boldly unfounded security argument is that the police legitimize speculation. I understand very well that people start to wonder what the police are doing when they cancel and cannot go into more detail about why.
Dagen editor Vebjørn Selbekk agrees with fellow editor, Choi.
– It is a serious situation if there are concrete threats to this event, he says to TV 2.
EDITOR: Vebjørn Kroll Selbekk, Norwegian editor, journalist and debater with a Christian conservative point of view. He is editor-in-chief of the Christian daily newspaper Dagen. Photo: Ingrid Wollberg / TV 2
He clarifies that it is important for the police to be aware of how serious the interference with democratic freedom is, when the agency introduces the kind of ban that Sian is now experiencing.
– Then you become hostage to those who want to use violence and terror to prevent legal expression in a democratic society – and that is very worrying.
Timely
The debate about freedom of expression has recently flared up in the Nordic countries.
The question became highly topical after Danish Rasmus Paludan set fire to Sweden’s Nato hopes, after burning the Muslims’ holiest book, the Koran.
An action both Paludan, who leads the right-wing radical party Stram Kurs, and Sian have done a number of times in the past.
KORAN BURNING: Far-right politician Rasmus Paludan burns a copy of the Muslims’ holy book, the Koran. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT / NTB
The Dagen editor is clear in his speech: in a democracy, legal speech must be protected, even if you don’t like the message or the way the message is expressed.
– Now there are many who are reacting to the fact that Turkey’s despotic president is holding Sweden hostage and does not allow a western democracy to become a member of NATO, he says and adds:
– This is demonstrated against, and then it is important that the police allow, and not prohibit, this type of demonstration. Then you have to invest the resources needed to protect a legal arrangement.
