
He kicks the Koran and then burns it in Stockholm. Ankara: “Unacceptable slur”
He kicks the Koran and then burns it. It happens again in Sweden, where a man is of Iraqi origin Under police protection, Salwan Momika demonstratively destroyed a copy of the holy book of Islam. The authorities, who had allowed him to “demonstrate”, then opened an investigation against him for “incitement against an ethnic group”.
“We’re not fighting against Muslims, we’re fighting against their thoughts,” Momika told the TT agency. “We’re not against Muslims, we’re on their side.” In February, he had asked in protest to have the Koran closed in front of the Iraqi embassy buried, but the police had forbidden this.
Today, however, the police authorities made it possible for the demonstration to take place on sitethe beginning of the three days of muslim holiday eid al-adha, Festival of Sacrifice celebrated by Muslims around the world.
The approval of this initiative was decided after a judgement of the Court of Appeal, according to which it is wrong under a constitutional right for the police to refuse demonstrations because of the risk of attack. The ban was followed by the burning of Muslim holy book in front of the Turkish embassy, which took place last January after weeks of protests. The author at the time was extremist Rasmus Paludan.
The protest, the images of which immediately went viral, took place in front of the big one Stockholm Mosque, Medborgarplatsen Camii, in the central district of Södermalm. Several people came to protest the fire and one of them was stopped by police for trying to throw a rock.
“Constitutional Law Goes Before Temporary Fire Bans” said the police spokeswoman. Earlier in the year, demonstrations by extremist Rasmus Paludan led to a stalemate Swedish accession negotiations to NATO and sparked protests arab world, Increase in terrorist threat against Sweden. Swedish police repeatedly refused to allow similar demonstrations, citing security reasons, but changed their mind after a court decision defended them the constitutional right to freedom of protest.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Hjalmar Kristersson He said the police’s decision to allow the fire to burn was “lawful but unreasonable”. During a press conference, the prime minister did not answer a question about the possible impact of the action on Sweden’s prospects for NATO membership.
Stockholm, the man was arrested for tearing up and burning the pages of the Koran
Turkey’s conservative president immediately came to add fuel to the fire Recep Tayyip Erdogan who called “unacceptable” the fact that supporters of the Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK, which Ankara considers terrorists, continue to demonstraterecruit staff and freely raise funds in Sweden.
During a phone call with the German Prime Minister Olaf ScholzCiting Sweden’s new terrorism legislation, Erdogan acknowledged that Stockholm is taking “steps in the right direction” when it comes to Ankara’s demands to distance itself from terrorist organizations and extradite some suspected militants in exchange for a green light for Sweden to join NATO. However, it remains “impossible for Turkey to accept” that PKK supporters could demonstrate freely on Swedish territory, Erdogan told Scholz, as reported by Turkish state television Trt.
“I condemn the despicable act committed in Sweden on the first day of Eid-al-Adha against the Koran, our holy book,” he said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Twitter regarding the fact. “It is unacceptable to allow these actions under the pretext of freedom of expression. To condone such a cruel act is to be complicit in it,” he noted.

Medborgarplatsen Mosque in Stockholm