Journalist reveals how Swedish police facilitated Quran burning

STOCKHOLM (AA) – Islamophobic extremist Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), not only set fire to a copy of Islam’s holy book under police “protection,” but had earlier made the Swedish security forces release a member of his team of Islamophobes in order to start his provocative act, a journalist present on the occasion has said.

Photojournalist Orhan Karan said a companion of Paludan, whom he had seen in the previous demonstrations, suddenly approached him in an aggressive manner and started verbal abuses before threatening to attack him.

“Then he turned his abuse into a physical attack. Police at the scene detained him as they witnessed the incident. Police informed me, saying they have removed him from the area,” Karan said, adding that Paludan arrived at the scene shortly after, but refused to get out of his vehicle unless his colleague was released by the police.

Under normal conditions, detainees are taken to a police vehicle and then to a police station for questioning.

“The police bowed down to Paludan’s demand and brought the person back to the scene of the burning,” said Karan. The detained person was tasked with livestreaming the hate crime.

Karan said he would file a legal complaint against the officers accused of enabling Paludan to stage his act. He said police apologized to him after releasing the detainee and said the far-right leader, who was given legal protection for his criminal actions, was otherwise not going to come out of his vehicle.