STOCKHOLM, June 28. /TASS/. The Stockholm police have approved another Quran-burning demonstration near a mosque, Radio Sweden reported on Wednesday.
In the spring, the capital police denied such permission, however, a court that the protest’s organizers appealed to, recognized the decision as "erroneous." Now, law enforcement is citing the court ruling which says that "in order to deny the holding of a public gathering, it should have a clear connection to concerns over violations of order and safety," which the police do not see in this case.
According to the SVT TV channel, the rally will be held by a 30-year-old male from a Stockholm suburb near a mosque in Medborgarplatsen Square in the late afternoon. The police have not issued "a direct permit to burn" the Muslim holy book but the decision does state that the "demonstration is about the Quran." In turn, the TV4 channel reported that the police had called in reinforcements to cope with potential disturbances at the event on Muslim holy days during Eid al-Adha (Kurban Bayrami), one of Islam’s main holidays.
Earlier, a major scandal erupted between Turkey and Sweden over the burning of the Quran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. On January 21, Danish politician Rasmus Paludan who leads the anti-Islamic far-right extremist Stram Kurs party publicly burned the Quran in front of the Turkish diplomatic mission. In his speech, he criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and displayed a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad. In April 2022, the police did not allow Paludan to hold a Quran-burning rally in Norrkoping. The Court of Appeal which considered this case also ruled that the police’s decision was erroneous because a law on public order does not give them authority to cancel meetings simply because some disturbances took place earlier or there is a possibility of them breaking out if a rally is held.