STOCKHOLM, Jul 27 (Reuters) – Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is “extremely concerned” about the consequences if there are more demonstrations desecrating the Quran, he said on Thursday, amid mounting Muslim anger. for a series of attacks against holy Islam. book.
attacks on the Koran in Sweden and Denmark have offended many Muslim countries, including Turkey, whose backing Sweden needs to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a target of Stockholm following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Kristersson told the Swedish news agency TT that more requests had been made to the police for permission to hold protests in which the desecration of the Koran was again planned.
“If they are granted, we are going to face a few days in which there is a clear risk of something serious happening. I am extremely concerned about what may result, ”he said.
The Swedish embassy in Baghdad was assaulted and was torched on July 20 by protesters angry at the planned burning of the Qur’an.
Kristersson said the decision to grant permission for demonstrations rested with the police.
Sweden’s security service SAPO maintained its threat level assessment at 3 on a scale of 5, meaning a “high threat” during the crisis, but its chief said there was a strong reaction to recent events.
‘ANTI-ISLAMIC LAND’
“Sweden has gone from being seen as a tolerant country to being seen as an anti-Islamic land,” Charlotte von Essen told reporters on Thursday.
Denmark and Sweden have said they deplore the burning of the Koran, but cannot prevent it under the rules they protect. freedom of expression.
Sweden has accused other countries, such as Russia, to manipulate the crisis to harm their interests and their attempt to join NATO.
“In some countries there is a perception that the Swedish state is behind or approves of it. We don’t,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told reporters on Thursday.
“These are acts committed by individuals, but they do so within the framework of freedom of expression laws,” he said.
Billstrom said he had been in contact with the foreign ministers of Iran, Iraq, Algeria and Lebanon, among others, as well as the United Nations secretary-general about the current crisis.
“And right now I’m going to talk to the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Countries,” Billstrom said.
“We will discuss these issues and it is important to stress that this is a long-term issue, there are no quick fixes,” he said.
The government faces a difficult balancing act in upholding far-reaching free speech laws, while at the same time avoiding potential insults to Muslims.
His position is not helped by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, whose support keeps the center-right coalition in power even though the party is not formally part of the government.
Members of the Sweden Democrats, the largest party on the right, have repeatedly warned about the “Islamization” of Swedish society and called on immigrants to adopt “Swedish” values.
Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Simon Johnson, editing by Terje Solsvik, William Maclean
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