Swedish authorities have given their approval for a protest scheduled to occur outside the main mosque in Stockholm, coinciding with the beginning of the three-day Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
The organizer of the protest intends to burn a Quran during the demonstration.
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The police, in their written decision, stated that the security risks associated with the burning did not reach the legal threshold for rejecting the request.
This approval comes after a Swedish appeals court overturned the police’s initial denial of permits for two previous demonstrations in Stockholm, which also involved Quran burnings.
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Earlier, the police had cited security concerns following a Quran burning outside Turkey’s embassy in January, which sparked widespread protests, calls for a boycott of Swedish goods, and impacted Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
Turkey objected specifically to the police’s authorization of the January demonstration, blocking Sweden’s NATO bid due to its perception of insufficient action against Kurdish groups.
Initially, requests for protests involving Quran burnings outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm were banned by the police. However, the appeals court later ruled that the police had made an incorrect decision, stating that the security concerns were not clearly connected to the planned events.
The current request for the Wednesday demonstration was submitted by the same individual whose previous request had been blocked. Salwan Momika, aged 37, mentioned in the application that he intended to express his opinion about the Quran by tearing it up and burning it in front of the mosque.
To maintain order during the protest, Swedish police have called in additional forces from various parts of the country. Several police cars were observed near the mosque in the early hours of Wednesday.
While some Swedish politicians have criticized Quran burnings, they have also strongly defended the right to freedom of expression.
