Protesters rally in Sweden to condemn burning of Holy Qur'an
Hundreds of demonstrators have staged a rally in southern Sweden to voice their anger about anti-Muslim practices and blatant acts of sacrilege by far-right extremists in the country.
Some 300 protesters flocked to the streets in Sweden's third largest city of Malmo on Friday, after a copy of the Holy Qur'an had earlier in the day been burned in the southern city by right-wing extremists.
On the same day, three men had also started playfully kicking a copy of the holy Muslim book between them in a public square in Malmo.
The protests were mainly triggered following the prearranged arrival of the leader of an anti-Muslim Danish politician that was due to attend a Qur'an-burning rally in the Swedish city.
The authorities stopped Rasmus Paludan, leader of Danish far-right political party Hard Line, at the border and pre-empted his arrival by announcing that he had been banned from entering Sweden for two years.
"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 behavior... would pose a threat to society."
Paludan attracted media attention last year for burning a copy of the Holy Qur'an wrapped in bacon — a meat that is forbidden for Muslims.
Anti-Muslim sentiments have been on the rise across Europe in recent years in the wake of terrorist attacks in the continent. The attacks were carried out by the Daesh sympathizers or the terror group’s members who had returned home following their defeat in Iraq and Syria.
Muslim leaders in Europe and around the world have reiterated their unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attacks.
Moreover, the rise of far-right ideology and the propagation of anti-immigration policies have exacerbated the status of religious minorities in Europe.
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