By Chris King • Updated: 03 Sep 2023 • 20:59
Image of a holy Muslim Quran. Credit: Tanya Stolyarevskaya/Shutterstock.com
A violent riot broke out at another Koran burning in the Swedish city of Malmö this Sunday, September 3.
The police described the situation as violent and several hundred people gathered at the scene. ‘There is still a special incident going on, but that also includes the investigation work’, commented Richard Lundqvist, a police press spokesperson.
Around 100 people had gathered after permission was granted for a Koran burning on Värnhemstorget in Malmö on Sunday afternoon.
According to the police, the atmosphere at the scene turned violent at times, and a riot occurred shortly before 2 pm. The holy book was once again being burned by the repeat offender Salwan Momika.
During the protest, a person tried to force his way towards 37-year-old Momika but he was intercepted by the police and taken away.
According to an SVT reporter who was on the spot, it appeared that the man forced his way through the barriers before being wrestled down by police officers.
Among other things, objects were thrown at Momika as he attempted to carry out his action. As a result, around 10 people were detained, and another two people were arrested on suspicion of causing a violent riot or blue light sabotage.
‘It is unclear to me what they intended to hit’, Richard Lundqvist, press spokesperson at police region South told aftonbladet.se. The public gathering lasted less than one hour, at the end of which, Momika was escorted away from the site.
‘There is still a special event going on, but that also includes the investigative work. So we are working on this, but there are no worries at the moment’, explained Lundqvist to svt.se.
Salwan Momika is the same man who burned the Koran in the Stockholm area earlier this summer. He was granted permission for today’s action that was scheduled to take place between 1 pm and 3 pm, with police officers on the perimeter as a precaution. Momika had not burned a Koran in Malmö before today.
Parts of Värnhemstorget were cordoned off as a precaution although according to Malmö police spokesperson Filip Annas: ‘There is no information that there would be a threat against the burning of the Koran at the moment’.
Momika previously informed SVT that he would continue to burn the Koran until it is banned in Sweden. Koran burnings carried out this year in both Sweden and Denmark have led to strong reactions from Muslim countries. This led to the terror threat level being raised in Sweden.
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Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com
Banning books is a ridiculous and dangerous thing to do. We don´t need more censorship. I can understand why this guy might dislike the book, but banning it is ridiculous. Rewriting books written decades or centuries ago, in order to make them woke-compliant is also dangerous and abhorrent. The reent pathetic beahviour regards James Bond, Roald Dahl etc is pathetic. They were stories set in era that has passed, rewriting them is like trying to rewrite history, but then there seems to be a lot of that going on at the moment. Sick to death of snowflakes who have to be protected from a book
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