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PROTESTS

Nine police injured during protest in Sweden

Counter-protesters demonstrating against a far-right group's intention to burn a Koran in Orebro in central Sweden clashed with police on Friday, leaving nine police officers injured, authorities said.

Published: 15 April 2022 15:15 CEST
Updated: 16 April 2022 13:29 CEST
Cars burning in a parking lot in Navesta in Norrköping on Thursday evening, 14th April 2022 after riots broke out.
Cars burning in a parking lot in Navesta in Norrköping on Thursday evening, 14th April 2022 after riots broke out in response to the unrest in Linkoping Photo: Stefan Jerrevång / TT

Police said in a statement that nine officers were injured in all.

Their injuries included “broken arms and police officers who have been hit by stones,” police spokesperson Diana Qudhaib told the daily Aftonbladet.

A member of the public was also hit by a stone to the head.

The demonstration, involving around 200 people, according to local media, dispersed later in the evening.

It was the second day running that there had been clashes on the fringes of a rally by the anti-immigration and anti-Islamic Stram Kurs (Hard Line) movement led by Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan.

Three police officers had to be taken to hospital after a riot broke out in the city of Linkoping on Sweden’s east coast on Thursday, where a demonstration that included a Koran burning was planned. Two people were arrested at that protest.

Footage from the scene in the city of Linkoping on Sweden’s east coast showed a car burning and dozens of masked people attacking police cars.

“The mood has been aggressive and there have been attacks against police at the scene,” police spokeswoman Asa Willsund told broadcaster SVT, adding that things had calmed down after police had backed off.

The riot started ahead of a planned demonstration by anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan and his party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), that was meant to include a burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

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While Stram Kurs had been given permission to hold their demonstration in the Skaggetorp neighbourhood — where over 50 percent of inhabitants were born abroad — they were not able to start it as police were dealing with the rioters.

“There are masked individuals at the scene that are throwing rocks at police,” a statement from regional police said, without identifying if they were part of the scheduled protest or counter-protesters.

Videos posted on social media showed young men smashing in windows of police cars and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

The demonstration was scheduled to start at 3:30 pm but according to police they had not been able to carry it out.

Riots also broke out in Norrköping on Thursday evening in response to the planned demonstration in Linkoping.

Rioters throwing stones at the police in Navesta in Norrköping on Thursday evening, 14th April 2022.

Rioters throwing stones at the police in Navesta in Norrköping on Thursday evening, 14th April 2022. The unrest was triggered by the fact that right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan has been given permission to hold a public meeting. Photo: Stefan Jerrevång / TT
 

Reacting to the violence, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said: “In Sweden, people are allowed to express their opinions, whether they are in good or bad taste, that is part of our democracy. No matter what you think, you must never resort to violence. We will never accept it.”

“This is exactly the kind of violent reaction he (Rasmus Paludan) wants to see. The very purpose is to incite people against each other,” she added in comments to the TT news agency.

Paludan has regularly been at the centre of incidents in recent years.

In November 2020, he was arrested in France and deported.

Five other activists were arrested in Belgium shortly afterwards, accused of wanting to “spread hatred” by burning a Koran in Brussels.

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CRIME

Norway to deport Quran burner who caused uproar back to Sweden

An Iraqi refugee in Sweden who stoked international outrage by repeatedly desecrating the Quran last year has been arrested in Norway and now faces deportation back to Sweden, according to court documents viewed by AFP on Thursday.

Published: 4 April 2024 17:33 CEST
Norway to deport Quran burner who caused uproar back to Sweden

Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at a slew of protests in Sweden over the summer, told AFP last week that he had left Sweden for Norway, where he planned to seek asylum.

According to a ruling by the Oslo District Court, Momika was arrested on March 28th — a day after he arrived.

After a hearing on March 30th, the court decided to detain Momika for four weeks, awaiting a likely request from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) to Sweden that he is returned, in accordance with EU legislation.

In the court’s ruling it said “a deportation will take place as soon as the formal and practical arrangements are in place.”

Police had requested that he would be detained in the meantime, citing the country’s migration law when it can be assumed that a foreign national will attempt to evade the implementation of a decision for him to leave the country.

Momika’s Quran burnings sparked widespread outrage and condemnation in Muslim countries.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.

The Swedish government condemned the desecrations of the Quran but stressed the country’s laws regarding freedom of speech and assembly.

Sweden’s intelligence agency heightened its terror alert level in mid-August to four on a scale of five after the angry reactions made the country a “prioritised target”.

The Swedish Migration Agency revoked Momika’s residency permit in October, citing false information in his original application, but he was granted a temporary one as it said there was an “impediment to enforcement” of a deportation to Iraq.

The month before, Iraq had requested his extradition over one of the Quran burnings.

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