Far-right activists in Sweden burn Koran, sparking riots



Demonstrators burn tires as protesters riot Friday night in the Rosengard neighborhood of Malmo, Sweden. Photo courtesy of TT News Agency/EPA-EFE

Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Video circulating of far-right activists burning a Koran near a mosque in Malmo, Sweden, sparked riots overnight, law enforcement said Saturday.

More than 300 rioters threw stones at police and burned tires in the southern Swedish city after video circulated of far-right Danish politician Rasmus Paludan's followers burning a copy of the Muslim holy book.

Calm did not return to the area until about 3 a.m. Saturday, according to Patric Fors, a Malmo police spokesman.

"A few policeman have been slightly injured, and I don't have any reports of any members of the public being injured," Fors said. "We currently have 13 suspects wanted for rioting, five of them have been arrested, but they have all now been released."

Malmo police had denied Paludan, the leader of Denmark's extremist Hard Line Party, permission to hold an anti-Islamic protest Wednesday. On Friday afternoon, Paludan was banned from entering Sweden for two years, but that didn't stop his supporters from filming themselves burning one copy of a Koran on Friday night, and kicking another one around the city's main square like a football.

Police arrested three of the followers on suspicion of hate crimes.

Rioters accused police of violating their civil rights by allowing people to burn the Koran, but one officer said they made arrests as soon as the the video came out.

Among the spectators, many of the Muslims opposed the rioting, The Local reported.

Amid the rioting, prominent Muslim leader Samir Muric pleaded with the rioters to stop and accused them of shaming their own religion.

Muric also condemned the rioting on his Facebook page.

"Those who are acting this way have nothing to do with Islam," he wrote on Facebook. "Their screams filled with 'la ilaha ill Allah' and 'Allahu Akbar' are just expressions that they don't mean -- because if they really meant it, they would never have acted like this.

"And again: I am against any type of burning -- of the Quran as well as tires and pallets!" Muric added.