Sweden: man who wanted to burn Torah and Bible abandons his project

A 32-year-old man who expressed a desire to burn the Torah and the Bible on Saturday in Stockholm abandoned his plan, explaining that his intention was in fact to expose those who burn sacred books such as the Quran in the Scandinavian country.

On Friday, the Swedish police granted him permission to organize a demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy, ​​a decision that was condemned by the Jewish state and various religious organizations.

Ahmad A., the organizer of the protest, told reporters that his intention was to criticize the people who burned Korans in Sweden in recent months, which is not prohibited by Swedish law.

“This is a response to people who burn the Koran. I want to show that freedom of speech has limitations that need to be taken into account,” explained the 32-year-old Swedish resident of Syrian origin.

“I want to show that we should respect each other”

“I want to show that we must respect each other, we live in the same society. If I burn the Torah, another Bible, another Koran, there will be war here… I wanted to show that this is wrong,” he added. “Burn (the holy book) against the Quran and I will not burn. No one should do this,” said a thirty-year-old man with a neatly trimmed beard. A small demonstration peacefully dispersed about fifty meters from the Israeli embassy on a luxurious avenue in the center of Stockholm.

January saw the first Quran burning by Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan to denounce Sweden’s NATO membership and negotiations with Turkey to admit Sweden to an “alliance”.

On June 28, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden burned several pages of a copy of the Koran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque on Eid al-Adha, a holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world. These two events caused a number of condemnations in the Muslim world.

Very liberal Swedish legislation

Even if the Swedish police remind you that the permission given for the demonstration was not a formal permission to burn a holy book, there is no law against blasphemy against burning the Quran, Torah or Bible.

The Swedish government condemned “insulting” and “Islamophobic” acts in January and June, but has no plans to change Swedish legislation, which is more liberal than elsewhere. On the other hand, the police may refuse a demonstration if it undermines the security of the kingdom or if it generates actions or words that incite racial hatred.