Dozens of victims of riots swept Sweden after the threat to burn the Koran
The riots, which began in Sweden due to Danish right-wing extremists threatening to openly burn the Koran, resulted in at least 34 casualties.
According to Swedish police data, about 20 police officers and 14 civilians were injured during the riots in the suburbs of Stockholm, Malmo and three other Swedish cities. In addition, 20 police cars were damaged. In all, more than 40 people were arrested.
The cause of the anger was the planned action of the Danish far-right “Hard Corse” party leader Rasmus Paludan, who threatened to publicly burn the Koran in Linköping. He then promised to gather a crowd of his supporters on April 17, but then abandoned his plans. However, Iran and Iraq called on Swedish ambassadors to protest the extremists’ actions.
The Hard Deal Party was founded by Baludan in 2017. The politician has publicly burned the Qur’an more than once, citing freedom of expression, and his party demands the outlawing of Islam and the deportation of all “non-Western people” who had previously been granted asylum.
In 2020, Palaudan was sentenced to prison for crimes in Denmark, including those motivated by racism.
Earlier, Denmark decided to require certain categories of immigrants to work 37 hours a week in order to maintain social benefits.
