The Swedish Justice endorses the burning of copies of the Koran during a series of protests

June 12 () –

A Swedish Court of Appeals has ruled this Monday that the country’s Police lacked sufficient grounds to prohibit two demonstrations earlier this year in which those present planned to burn copies of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, and has ruled that in In these cases, the right of association of the demonstrators in question prevailed.

In a verdict that may pave the way for more cases of this type to occur, the court has agreed with the organizations that were behind the call for these protests and has indicated that the risk to the security of the population was not high enough to cancel these protests.

“The security problems alleged by the Police were not so closely linked to the events in question,” the court asserted in relation to the position of the Police Corps, which insisted at the time that these demonstrations made Sweden “a target of possible attacks”.

The burning of copies of the Koran last January in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, the Swedish capital, raised controversy and drew criticism from the Muslim community, leading to weeks of protests and calls to boycott previous products of Sweden, among other issues.

After the incident, the Police refused to authorize two other protests that also included the burning of the Koran in front of the headquarters of the Turkish and Iraqi diplomatic legations in the city.

These demonstrations affected the relationship between Sweden and Turkey, already tense due to Stockholm’s request to join NATO, an issue that has been blocked by Ankara waiting for the Swedish authorities to comply with its demands.

For Turkey, the burning of the Koran in front of its Embassy was especially offensive given that the Police itself authorized the march and later offered protection to the Danish far-right leader Rasmus Paludan, responsible for burning the copy in question.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan then stated that “those who had caused disgrace before the country’s Embassy could not expect benevolence from Turkey in relation to the request for accession to NATO.”

Swedish politicians, for their part, have criticized the burning of these copies but have stressed that these acts are part of the “right to freedom of expression.” This Tuesday, representatives of Turkey, Sweden and NATO are scheduled to meet in Ankara to address precisely the country’s accession to the Alliance.