Sweden sees another Quran-burning protest: Will this hurt its NATO bid?

Sweden once again saw a Quran-burning protest by a right-wing activist on Wednesday (28 June). The demonstration, which coincided with Eid-al-Adha – a three-day Muslim holiday, was held outside the main mosque in Stockholm.

The police later charged the man with agitation against an ethnic or national group, reported Reuters. 

The act is expected to upset Turkey and further complicate Sweden’s bid to join the Western military alliance, NATO. Condemning the incident, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said that it was “unacceptable to allow anti-Islam protests in the name of freedom of expression”.

Mübarek Kurban Bayramı’nın ilk gününde Kutsal Kitabımız Kur’an-ı Kerim’e yönelik #İsveç’te yapılan aşağılık eylemi lanetliyorum!#İslamkarşıtı bu eylemlere ifade özgürlüğü bahanesiyle izin verilmesi kabul edilemez.

Bu tarz menfur eylemlere göz yummak suça ortak olmaktır.

— Hakan Fidan (@HakanFidan) June 28, 2023

This is not the first time that Sweden witnessed the burning of the Muslim holy book.

Let’s take a closer look at what is going on, what happened in the past, and how this can affect Sweden.

Police allow Quran-burning protest

Swedish police gave permission for the small demonstration outside the Stockholm mosque where the organiser had said he will “tear up the Quran and burn it”, reported Reuters.

As per news agency AFP, the police said in its permit for Wednesday’s demonstration said that the security risks linked to the Quran burning “were not of a nature that could justify, under current laws, a decision to reject the request”.

This came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court dismissed the police’s decision to deny permits to two protests in Stockholm which were to include the burning of the sacred Muslim book, according to the news agency.

Two people showed up for the Wednesday demonstration, including the organiser – Salwan Momika, as per Reuters. 

Momika describes himself as an atheist and an Iraqi refugee seeking to “ban” the Quran. He also says he is a member of the far-right Sweden Democrats, as per The National News report.

In a recent post, he alleged that Sweden’s “freedom and laws are in danger” and that police “are trying to impose the Quran on you”, the report added.

Momika’s previous request for a similar demonstration was blocked.

The police took precautions ahead of the Wednesday protest and called in reinforcements from across Sweden to maintain law and order, reported AFP.

Previous Quran-burning demonstration

Sweden caused an uproar in the Muslim world in January when a Danish far-right politician burned the Quran during a protest outside Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm.

Reacting sharply to the incident, Turkey condemned the act and its foreign ministry said that allowing the protest “under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable.” The Turkish foreign minister had blasted the Swedish government, saying it had “taken part in this crime by allowing this vile act”, as per a CNN report.

It also led to Turkey scrapping a visit by Sweden’s defense minister to Ankara. The incident further sparked outrage in the Turkish capital with people burning the Swedish flag outside the Swedish embassy in response.

According to The Guardian, Sweden also criticised the January protest, with its foreign minister, Tobias Billström, saying that Islamophobic provocations were “appalling”. “Sweden has a far-reaching freedom of expression, but it does not imply that the Swedish government, or myself, support the opinions expressed.”

Rasmus Paludan, who was behind the Quran-burning incident in January, is “a rabid Muslim hater”, according to a TRT World article.

The Hard Line party leader has also been convicted for racist abuse. As per AFP, he provoked rioting in Sweden last year after he toured the country and publicly burned copies of the Muslim holy book.

However, Paludan is not likely to be a part of the Wednesday demonstration, reported Reuters.

As per The Guardian report in late January, Paludan’s protest was funded by Chang Frick, a far-right journalist with links to Kremlin-backed media.

Frick, who now does media spots for the far-right Sweden Democrats, was a former contributor to the Kremlin-backed channel RT, previously called Russia Today, the report added. However, he claimed that setting alight the Muslim holy book “wasn’t my idea”.

After facing backlash due to the January incident, including condemnation from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, Sweden had banned gatherings outside Turkish and Iraqi embassies in February as it appeared they would include the burning of the Quran, reported The National News.

ALSO READ: Finland gets a yes. But, why is Turkey sitting on Sweden’s NATO bid?

Sweden’s NATO bid

The Wednesday demonstration is once again likely to threaten Sweden’s chances of joining NATO. While 28 out of NATO’s 30 members have assented to Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance, Turkey and Hungary have continued to hold out for their own reasons.

But it is Turkey that is seen as the main roadblock to Sweden’s NATO membership.

Speaking to the newspaper Aftonbladet in April, Momika had said he did not want to sabotage the Swedish NATO bid. “I don’t want to harm this country that received me and preserved my dignity”.

However, his actions on Wednesday are expected to cause widespread anger, including in Turkey.

After the January incident, an aide to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that Sweden “must wake up to the reality of terror groups intent on preventing Sweden’s NATO membership by poisoning their relationship with us”.

Meanwhile, Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson is confident that his country will be a part of NATO but has admitted that it may not happen before the next big summit of the military alliance in Vilnius in July.

Kristersson said recently: “Sweden will become a NATO member”.

“We’ve also said that we respect that it is Turkey that makes Turkish decisions and it is good we now have another meeting … and maybe we can address the odd question mark ahead of the Vilnius summit in that kind of conversation”, the prime minister was further quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle (DW).

Earlier in June, Erdogan said NATO should not expect Turkey to green-light Sweden’s application to join the Western military alliance before the July summit.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.