Hundreds gather in Stockholm to protest Quran burnings

By Atila Altuntas

STOCKHOLM (AA) — Hundreds of people gathered in Sweden's capital on Sunday to protest the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, last month.

Local Muslim associations organized the protest in Stockholm's Medborgarepaltsen Square, where about 500 demonstrators demanded similar acts be outlawed in the Scandinavian country.

In a statement, the group underlined that burning the Quran is an Islamophobic hate crime that offends Muslims and that desecrating holy books should be banned.

Speaking to Anadolu, Mikail Yuksel, head of the Nyans (Nuance) party, stressed that Quran burnings were wrong from legal perspective as well.

Highlighting the need to make introduce legal amendments on the matter, Yuksel said: "Burning the Quran is a hate crime and there is no place for this democracies."

Last month, a person identified as Salwan Momika burned a copy of the Quran under police protection in front of Stockholm Mosque in Sweden.

His provocative act was timed to coincide with Eid al-Adha, one of the major Islamic religious festivals celebrated by Muslims worldwide.

It elicited widespread condemnations from across the Islamic world, including Türkiye, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Senegal, Morocco and Mauritania.

In January, a far-right politician also set fire to a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Sweden.​​​​​​​