An Iraqi man today burned a copy of the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm, the first act of its kind authorized by the Swedish police since the courts overturned an earlier ban.
About two hundred people and a strong police presence took part in the protest.
There were no incidents, although police arrested one person for holding a stone in his hand, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Salvan Momika said he intended to criticize Islam before setting fire to a religious book, tabloid Aftonbladet reported in its online publication.
The protest took place on the day when Muslim believers around the world celebrate Aid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice.
The burning of a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in January by Danish-Swedish right wing Rasmus Paludan sparked protests in several countries, including Turkey.
The Ankara authorities continue to block the ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO, approved a year ago at the Madrid summit.
In February, the Swedish police denied two petitions to burn the Koran, citing a security risk to Sweden, but the courts rejected this argument several times over the next few months.
“The security and order issues cited by the police are not sufficiently related to the planned gatherings to deny permission,” an administrative appeals court ruling earlier this month said.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called today’s action a provocation and admitted that it was “good, but inappropriate.”
“I’m not going to give bullies the attention they want. They want to provoke and offend others,” Kristersson said.
“My goal is for Sweden to join NATO as soon as possible, because this is important for the security of Sweden and the security of our region,” he added.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Sweden and Finland ended their historic policy of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO.
The nominations of the two Scandinavian countries were accepted at the Madrid summit a year ago after a last-minute deal with Ankara to override the Turkish veto.
Finland became the 31st member of the Atlantic Alliance in early April, but Sweden is still waiting to overcome Turkish and Hungarian resistance.
Hungary accuses Sweden of being hostile in the European Union (EU), while Turkey criticizes Stockholm for not handing over people it considers terrorists, especially from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.