Right-wing radical provocateur burned the Koran – then the riots started – VG
The violent riots in Linköping and Norrköping started after the Danish Koran burner Rasmus Paludan made his entrance. Tomorrow he is going to Rinkeby.
– I think it is sad and sad for democracy in Sweden that a legally allowed demonstration, where I have to speak out, must stop because people throw stones and burn up cars. There is not much democracy left then, says Rasmus Paludan, leader of the far-right party Stram Kurs, to VG.
The Dane, who also has Swedish citizenship, started the small party that wants to ban Islam, which fights for “as much happiness as possible for as many ethnic Danes as possible” and who wants a total stop to non-Western immigration.
They have no representatives in the Folketing in Denmark, Paludan received 1.8 percent of the votes in the 2019 election.
Also read
Violent riots in Sweden: Three police officers to hospital
A number of people went to attack the police in Linköping on Thursday, where the leader of an extreme Danish…
Paludan has been convicted at times of violating the racism clause, and in August 2020 he was given a one-year ban from entering Sweden, among other things, for defying the lack of a demonstration permit.
This was also in connection with a marking where he was to burn a copy of the Koran, wrapped in bacon, as he has done several times in Denmark, writes NTB.
– Swedish police violated the Swedish constitution, and I fought against the internal ban, and they repealed decisions because it was illegal, Paludan claims today.
Cars and Korans on fire
He started burning a Koran in Jönköping on Maundy Thursday, and was scheduled to hold an election meeting in Linköping, but that did not happen.
It broke out very violent riots in the neighborhood Skäggetorp, which is struggling with high unemployment and which by Swedish police has been categorized as a «particularly vulnerable area».
Masked people attacked the police, set a civilian police car on fire, smashed routes and climbed onto the roof of several police cars. The police chose to get out of the area to find out how to act to find a situation. Three police officers were driven to the hospital.
People stole police equipment, and videos on TikTok show a person walking around in a police vest and gas mask.
Eventually the riots spread to Norrköping, which was the next place on Paludan’s “Koran burning tour”. Hundreds of masked men must have been at the scene, and it must have thrown stones at the rescue service. A dozen cars were set on fire.
– What kind of event should this be?
– An election meeting where I told about Stram Kurs Sweden’s police, where I had to criticize Islam because it is part of our policy. Well, I’ve told the police I want to hold the assembly on Sunday.
Going to Rinkeby
Earlier on Thursday, Paludan posted a video on Facebook where he burns a Koran outside a mosque in Rosengård in Malmö. On Friday, Paludan sets course for the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, also a «particularly vulnerable area». It is not unreasonable to assume that riots could also occur here.
– Why is it so important for you to burn Korans?
– There are several reasons. An important reason is that in Sweden there are people who believe that if you burn Korans, then you have to kill that person. So if you do not burn the Koran, then you let murderers decide what to do, he claims.
This is typical violence rhetoric he has previously uttered. According to the main imam of the Furuset mosque stands it does not say in the Qur’an that one should punish one who is thought to be committing blasphemy.
– Is this pure provocation on your part?
– All politics is provocation for some people. Swedish social democratic politics is provocative for me. I get provoked, but I do not burn cars, says Paludan, who says that the goal is for his Swedish party to run in the Riksdag election this year.
– Maybe there are not that many voters for your party in these areas?
– There are no voters for my party if no one knows that the party exists. I hold election meetings so that there will be attention around our policies. Part of politics is how many people do not understand and respect democracy. That part of our policies has been proven today, he claims.
– You’re going to Rinkeby, yes?
– Yes, he answers and laughs a little.
– What do you think about choosing a suburb like that, known as a particularly vulnerable area?
– I mean, these are people who are also difficult to understand the rules of democracy.