Today, Swedish police refused to grant permission to a person who applied to burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm. This decision was taken in light of the increasing incidents of burning the Koran and the evaluation of developments related to Swedish interests.
The act of burning the Quran has been met with outrage in the Islamic world. On January 21, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Danish far-right party, burned a copy of the Quran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, under the protection of the police. A few days later, Al-Wudan burned a copy of the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen and in front of a mosque. Moreover, Edwin Wagensfeld, the leader of the Dutch extremist anti-Islam group “PEGIDA”, tore up a copy of the Holy Qur’an in front of the Dutch parliament building.
The Swedish police did not provide any information on the identity of the person who made the request. Turkey has condemned these abuses as a “provocative act” and a “hate crime”.