It is an act that will not facilitate the Swedish prospects of joining NATO, which Turkey is blocking. A man burned a few pages of a copy of the Koran outside Stockholm’s largest mosque in a “gathering” authorized by police on Wednesday.
The event, which coincides with Eid al-Adha, a holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world, brought together around 100 onlookers and journalists. Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi who fled his country for Sweden, trampled on the Koran several times before slipping slices of bacon into it and burning a few pages.
Critics of Ankara, Washington and Rabat
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan immediately condemned the incident on Twitter: “It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression. Washington joined in the criticism, while saying it supported Sweden’s NATO membership “as soon as possible”. “We have always said that burning religious texts is disrespectful and offensive,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said.
Morocco for its part denounced an “offensive and irresponsible” act, and recalled its ambassador to Sweden. A demonstration in January during which a Koran was burned in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm had already angered Ankara and the Muslim world, leading to demonstrations and calls for a boycott of Swedish products.
Police file complaint for incitement to hatred
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, the police had announced to authorize “the gathering”, considering that “the security risks” linked to the burning of the Koran were “not such as to prohibit it”. But at the end of the day, she announced that she was filing a complaint against the organizer, in particular for incitement to hatred.
In his request for prior authorization, the organizer of the book burning, Salwan Momika, said he wanted to “express (his) opinion about the Koran”. “I will tear up the Koran and burn it,” he wrote. He had made a similar request in February, which was denied by the police. According to an article in the Swedish daily Aftonbladet dated April 5, Salwan Momika had however assured that his intention was not to complicate Swedish membership of the Atlantic Alliance.
Stockholm police had refused two rallies in February – including one initiated by Salwan Momika – where copies of the holy book were scheduled to be burned. In the process, the demonstrators had appealed, believing that their constitutional right to demonstrate had been violated. An administrative court had given them reason at the beginning of April. In mid-June, the administrative court of appeal confirmed this judgment. It is on this basis that the Swedish police took their decision on Wednesday, just a few days before the Vilnius summit, on July 11 and 12, where Stockholm hopes for progress for its entry into NATO.