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SWEDEN-DENMARK-ISLAM
Riot in Sweden after anti-Muslim Danish leader banned
STOCKHOLM, Aug 29, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – At least 10 people were
arrested, and several police officers injured, in violence which broke
out in southern Sweden after an anti-Muslim Danish politician was
blocked from attending a Koran-burning rally, police said Saturday.
Protesters threw stones at police and burned tyres on the streets
of Malmo late Friday, with the violence escalating as the evening wore
on, according to police and local media.
The demonstration of about 300 people was connected to an incident
earlier in the day in which protesters burned a copy of the Islamic
holy book, police spokesman Rickard Lundqvist told Swedish tabloid
Expressen.
Between 10 and 20 protesters were arrested late Friday and “have
all been released,” police spokesman Patric Fors told AFP.
Several police were slightly injured, he added. The violence had
subsided by Saturday morning.
“Those who act like this have nothing to do with Islam,” Samir
Muric, an imam, said on Facebook.
“It’s not right,” Malmo resident Shahed told the SVT public
broadcaster. “But it wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t burnt the
Koran,” he added.
Rasmus Paludan, who leads the far-right Danish anti-immigration
party Hard Line, was due to travel to Malmo to speak at Friday’s
event, which was being held on the same day as main weekly prayers for
Muslims.
But authorities pre-empted Paludan’s arrival by announcing he had
been banned from entering Sweden for two years. He was later arrested
near Malmo.
“We suspect that he was going to break the law in Sweden,” Calle
Persson, spokesman for the police in Malmo told AFP.
“There was also a risk that his behaviour… would pose a threat to
society.”
But his supporters went ahead with the rally, during which six
people were arrested for inciting racial hatred.
“It hurts,” Salim Mohammed Ali, a Muslim resident of Malmo for over
20 years, told SVT on Saturday.
“People get angry and I understand that, but there are other ways
of doing things,” he added.
Paludan later put up a scathing message on Facebook.
“Sent back and banned from Sweden for two years. However, rapists
and murderers are always welcome!” he wrote.
Paludan last year attracted media attention for burning a Koran
wrapped in bacon — a meat that is anathema for Muslims.
Malmo is an industrial city of 320,000 inhabitants, Over 40 percent
of its residents have foreign roots.
BSS/AFP/MRU/2131hrs