Two men burned this Monday a copy of the Koran during a demonstration authorized by the Swedish police in front of the stockholm parliamentin a protest similar to those that unleashed tensions between the Scandinavian nation and countries of middle East in the last weeks.
Salwan Momika and Salwan Najem they trampled on a copy of the Muslim holy book before setting fire to some of its pages, just as they did in June outside Stockholm’s main mosque.
His gesture had triggered a wave of outrage in the Middle East, with protests in iraq and unrest in the Muslim community.
The couple had also held another similar protest in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on July 20, although this time they only trampled on the holy book.
The demonstration this Monday was authorized by the police Swedish. The armed forces specified that the permits that were granted only referred to the demonstration itself and not to what was happening there.
The organizers told the media that they expected Sweden to ban the Koran. “I will burn it many times, until they ban it,” he assured Salwan Najema 37-year-old Iraqi refugee, to the newspaper express.
Mats Eriksson, a spokesman for the stockholm policepointed to the AFP that the act against the sacred book had been carried out “without serious alterations to public order.”
During the protest, Momika also stomped on an image of the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadrwhose supporters briefly stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in June before burning it down in July.
Draw attention
“We saw him standing there again and yelling things about the Quran and about Islam, playing with the Quran, and honestly it’s all for attention and it’s pretty obvious,” he said. Tamazight El Yaakoubian 18 year old Dutch student.
The previous desecrations against the Qur’an provoked diplomatic tensions between Sweden and several countries of middle East.
Swedish and Danish envoys in several of these countries were summoned following these desecrations.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip ErdoganFor example, he expressed his rejection of the burning of religious texts and warned in mid-July that there should be no new offenses against the Koran.
Türkiye’s vote is key to ratifying the Swedish accession to NATO. Last week, Sweden ordered 15 government agencies to strengthen anti-terror efforts.
And on Sunday, the neighbor Denmark announced that it was considering limiting demonstrations that involve the burning of sacred texts, evoking security concerns.
Swedish Prime Minister ulf kristersson, assured that a similar process was already underway in the country. “Here at home we know that states, state actors and individuals can take advantage of the situation,” she said in an Instagram post.
Saudi Arabia and Iraq called an extraordinary meeting, scheduled for Monday, of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to address these desecrations of the Koran in Sweden and Denmark.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstromreported on Monday that he was in contact with some of his counterparts from the 57 members of the OIC and that he had sent a letter to all its members.
In a statement, he claimed to have informed them about the process for granting permits for public gatherings in Sweden and that the police made those decisions independently.
