Quran set alight at protest outside Sweden parliament

Stockholm, Sweden (AFP):

Two men set the Quran alight outside parliament in Stockholm on Monday, an AFP reporter saw, at a protest similar to previous ones that have sparked tensions between Sweden and Muslim nations.

Salwan Momika and Salwan Najem stomped on the Muslim holy book, set its pages ablaze before slamming it shut, as they did at a protest outside Stockholm’s main mosque in June — sparking outrage across the Middle East.

The duo also staged a similar protest outside Iraq’s embassy in Stockholm on July 20, where they stomped on the religious text but did not burn it.

Swedish police granted a permit for the protest by campaigners hoping to see the Quran banned in the country.

“I want to protest in front of Sweden’s parliament and demand that the Quran be banned,” organiser Najem wrote in the application, which has been viewed by AFP.

As at earlier protests, Momika and Najem were the only participants, with a small group of counter-protesters gathering outside the police cordon, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

Around a dozen counter-protesters held up copies of the Quran, with some waving Iraqi flags, and shouted at Momika, who just as at earlier events wore sunglasses and grinned defiantly while taunting them.

Mats Eriksson, a spokesman for Stockholm police, told AFP the event “had been conducted without any serious public order disturbances”.

During the protest Momika also stomped on a picture of Shiite Muslim cleric and political leader Moqtada Sadr — whose followers had stormed Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad in response to previous desecrations.

The Iraqi prime minister and president “vehemently condemned the repeated acts of desecration” of the Quran.

They called on the countries where the attacks took place to take a “firmer position and put an end to these criminal practices”.

‘All for attention’

“We saw him standing there again and yelling stuff about the Quran and about Islam, playing with the Quran, and honestly it’s all for attention and it’s pretty obvious,” Tamazight El Yaakoubi, an 18-year-old law student from the Netherlands, told AFP.

“Before we came here we were pretty scared, we were like, ‘ Quran burned down, why?'” added the Muslim visitor.

“But when we came here almost everyone is full of love and everyone is very respectful.”

Sweden has already seen its diplomatic relations with several Middle Eastern nations strained over previous protests involving Quran desecrations.

Swedish police have previously stressed they only grant permits for people to hold public gatherings and not for the activities conducted during the events.

Both previous protests have led to widespread outrage and condemnations.