Sweden prepares for reaction to Koran protests

Sweden’s prime minister has warned that the country faces a crucial few days as it braces for more Korans to be burnt in a spate of protests that have led to fears of an increased risk of terror attacks and sparked anger across the Muslim world.

Ulf Kristersson said he was “extraordinarily concerned” about “the obvious risk of serious things happening” in the coming days as local police decide whether to allow further burnings of the holy Islamic book.

Sweden faces “a number of formative days at the beginning of next week”, the centre-right prime minister said on Thursday.

The Scandinavian country, which has strong legal protections for free speech, has permitted a number of protests this year where the Koran has been burnt – and the burning of a Hebrew Torah outside the Israeli embassy has also been passed for Friday.

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Outrage over the destruction of the religious text was initially highest in Turkey where president Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the protests as a reason to delay approving Sweden’s bid for Nato membership. Mr Erdoğan said this week that Turkey’s parliament should finally approve Sweden’s application after the summer recess in October.

But in recent weeks there have been growing protests across the Muslim world including the storming of Sweden’s embassy in Iraq last week.

The Swedish intelligence service warned this week that the Scandinavian country had moved from being a “legitimate” target for terror attacks along with the rest of the West to a “priority” target.

Sweden’s government responded on Thursday by tasking 15 state authorities with boosting defences against a potential attack.

Rhetoric over the Koran burnings – which have also taken place in recent weeks in Denmark – has sharpened across the Muslim world. Iran’s supreme leader warned the Swedish government that “supporting criminals against the world of Islam is equivalent to going into battle-array for war”.

In a statement last weekend, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Stockholm to “turn over the agent who has committed this crime to the judicial systems of Muslim countries” as this had “created feelings of hatred and enmity toward them [Swedes] in all Muslim nations”.

Egypt on Thursday summoned Denmark’s ambassador after a Koran was burnt in front of its embassy as well as the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen this week. The Egyptian foreign ministry called on Denmark and Sweden to “take concrete actions to stop these unfortunate incidents once and for all”.

Sweden and Denmark have criticised the Koran protests but cited laws protecting freedom of speech. Swedish police have denied several permits for protests at which holy books would be destroyed but have been overruled by courts who have said they can only be banned if there was an immediate threat to public safety.

The situation in Sweden was further complicated on Thursday by incendiary comments from a senior politician. Richard Jomshof, head of the parliament’s justice committee and a leading member of the far-right Sweden Democrats who support the government, called the Prophet Mohammed a “warlord, mass murderer, slave trader, and robber” in a tweet.

Israel’s foreign minister on Thursday intensified matters when he warned that relations between the two countries could be damaged after Swedish police gave the go-ahead for the Torah protest on Friday.

Nordic diplomats remain worried that Sweden’s Nato bid could be blown off course by the backlash as well as the potential for attacks against the country.

Following a cabinet meeting this week, MrErdoğan said: “While expressing our principled support for Nato’s enlargement, we have clearly and unequivocally set forth Turkey’s expectations ... We have made our warnings not only against terrorism, but also in the fight against Islamophobia, which is spreading like the plague in the West.”

Turkey’s foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned “in the strongest terms” the burning of the Muslim holy book in front of its embassy in Copenhagen and said “such attacks not only offend billions of Muslims, but also harm the culture of living together”.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023