Three people and more than a dozen police officers have been injured after riots broke out in Sweden over plans by a Danish far-right party, Stram Kurs, to burn copies of the Quran in various cities and towns.
The anti-Islam group, which is led by Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan, was eventually forced to abandon its rallies over security concerns after hundreds of protesters threw stones and set cars on fire at the events.
Paludan, who has previously been banned from Sweden after he burnt a Quran in 2020, had been given permission for a series of demonstrations across Sweden over the Easter weekend to coincide with Ramadan.
Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the Muslim World League have condemned the far-right party's actions.
His tour of Sweden comes amid speculation he is due to stand in the nation’s elections in September. Police have made 26 arrests in connection with the disturbances.
Paludan had organised the events in areas with a large Muslim population.
Scuffles and unrest were first reported in the southern town of Landskrona on Thursday. This led to officers relocating the event to the nearby city of Malmo, 43 kilometres south of Stockholm.
However, hundreds of protesters attended and there were riots.
On Friday evening, violent clashes between demonstrators and counter-protesters erupted in Orebro before Paludan’s plan to burn a Quran there.
Twelve police officers were injured and four police vehicles set ablaze.
In Landskrona, several hundred protesters threw stones, erected a barrier and set cars, tyres and dustbins on fire, on Saturday evening.
The same night, similar unrest took place in nearby Malmo, where a city bus was set on fire.
On Sunday, police said they were forced to fire warning shots during a riot in Norrkoping, 160 kilometres south of the capital Stockholm.
“Three people appear to have been hit by ricochets and are currently being treated in hospital”, police said in a statement.
“All three injured have been arrested on suspicion of a crime.”
The anti-immigration group was forced to abandon the events after the latest rioting.
Paludan said he decided to cancel Sunday’s demonstrations as the Swedish authorities in the region have “shown that they are completely incapable of protecting themselves and me”.
“If I was seriously injured or killed due to the inadequacy of the police authority, then it would be very sad for Swedes, Danes and other northerners,” he said.
Swedish Justice Minister Morgan Johansson tweeted: “Whatever one may think of the extreme right-wing hate speech that Paludan stands for, it is unacceptable to respond with such serious violence.”
In 2020, Paludan, a lawyer, was disbarred from the legal profession for three years and sentenced to three months in jail after being found guilty of racism.
He was banned from Sweden for two years after burning the Quran but he later bypassed the ban after his application for Swedish citizenship was successful.
He was previously jailed in 2019 for making a racist speech.
Because of Sweden's stance on free-speech, the police said they were unable to revoke permissions for the rallies.
The right of the protesters “to demonstrate and speak out weighs enormously, heavily and it takes an incredible amount for this to be ignored”, police representative Kim Hild told Swedish news agency TT.
It is not the first time Paludan has staged such events.
His stunts have included publicly burning the Quran in what he claims is “a tribute to free speech".
He set up Stram Kurs in 2017 and it first came to public attention when he started making anti-Muslim YouTube videos.
The group, which translates as hard line, runs on an anti-Islam agenda and describes itself as the most patriotic political party in Denmark.
The far-right group came close to getting into parliament in Denmark's 2019 elections with a policy based on banning Islam and deporting hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
It won 1.8 per cent of the vote in national elections in 2019, falling just short of the 2 per cent threshold needed to enter parliament.
Saudi Arabia denounced the “deliberate abuse of the Holy Quran and the provocations and incitement against Muslims,” in Sweden.
“The kingdom stressed the importance of concerted efforts to spread the values of dialogue, tolerance and coexistence, rejecting hatred, extremism and exclusion, and preventing abuse of all religions and sanctities,” said a statement by the Foreign Ministry carried by the state news agency.
The Muslim World League also condemned “the absurd and shameful act of some extremists in Sweden” and warned against inciting hatred and provoking religious sentiments.
Such acts, it said in a statement, inflame “feelings of hostility and division in societies and offend the values of freedom and its humane significance”.
Iraq has also summoned the chargé d'affairs of the Swedish Embassy and informed him of the government’s official protest over the acts of some “extremists” in burning the Quran.
