Swedish police have said that they have granted a permit for a protest where the organizer plans to burn a Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque today at the start of the Muslim three-day Eid al-Adha holiday.
The police said in the written decision that the security risks associated with the burning “were not of a nature that could justify, under current laws, a decision to reject the request.” This green light came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected the police’s decision to deny permits for two demonstrations in Stockholm which were to include Quran burnings.
Police had, at the time, cited security concerns, following a burning of the Muslim holy book outside Turkey’s embassy in January which had led to weeks of protests and had also further stalled Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
Turkey had taken particular offense that police had authorized the January demonstration.
After that, Police had banned two subsequent requests for protests involving Quran burnings - one by a private individual and one by an organization, outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm in February.
Back then,the police had refused to authorise the Quran burnings in Stockholm saying that the protest had made Sweden "a higher priority target for attacks." #Swedenquranburning #Stockholmquranburning #Eidaladha ~PR.153~ED.101~HT.96~
