The Swedish police have arrested more than ten people this Sunday after scenes of violence in Malmö (southern Sweden) as a result of a concentration in which a copy of the Koran was burned again.
Sunday’s rally, organized by Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, who has organized similar events that have sparked anger in the Muslim world, took place in a square in Malmö, which has a large immigrant population.
According to the public television channel SVT, about 200 people came to see the scene.
“Some spectators showed their emotion after the organizer burned the writings,” the police said in a statement.
“The atmosphere was stormy,” continues the police, adding that at 1:45 p.m. (local time) “violent riots” broke out.
According to the police, the rally ended when the organizer left, but a group of people remained.
A dozen people were detained for offenses against public order and two others were arrested on suspicion of participating in violent riots.
According to the media, some passers-by threw stones at Salwan Momika. A video shows protesters trying to break the police cordon before being stopped by the agents.
Another video shows a man trying to stop the police vehicle that was taking Momika away.
In late July, Salwan Momika, 37, and another man, Salwan Naja, trampled on a copy of the Koran in Stockholm before setting it on fire, as they had done in previous meetings that had sparked diplomatic tensions between Sweden and Middle Eastern countries.
The Swedish government condemned the desecration of the Koran, while stressing that the Swedish Constitution protects the right of assembly and freedom of expression.
Iraqi protesters attacked the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, setting fire inside the diplomatic mission in the second attack.
In mid-August, the Swedish Security Service announced that it had raised the terror alert level to 4 on a scale of 5, as strong reactions abroad over the desecration of the Koran on Swedish soil had turned the country into a “priority objective”.
At the beginning of August, Sweden also decided to intensify border controls.
Neighboring Denmark, where there have also been public desecrations of the Koran, announced it was considering banning burning of the Muslim holy book, and Sweden is exploring legal ways to do the same.
