Protests against anti-Islamic activity turn into riots, 9 police officers were injured in Sweden
Counter-protesters who demonstrated against a right-wing extremist group’s intention to burn a Koran in Örebro in central Sweden clashed with the police on Friday and left nine policemen injured, the authorities state.
Police said in a statement that nine police officers were injured in total. Their injuries include “broken arms and policemen who have been hit by stones”, police spokeswoman Diana Qudhaib told Aftonbladet.
A member of the public was also hit by a stone in the head. The demonstration, which involved about 200 people, according to local media, was dispersed later in the evening.
It was the second day in a row that there had been clashes on the outskirts of a rally of the anti-immigration and anti-Islamic Stram Kurs (Hard Line) movement led by Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan. Three police officers were taken to hospital after a riot broke out in the city of Linköping on Sweden’s east coast on Thursday, where a demonstration involving a Koran burning was planned. Two people were arrested during the protest.
In response to the violence, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said; “In Sweden, people are allowed to express their opinions, whether they have good or bad taste, it is part of our democracy. No matter what you think, you must never resort to violence. We will never accept that. “
“This is exactly the kind of violent reaction he (Rasmus Paludan) wants to see. The very purpose is to incite people against each other “, she added in comments to the news agency TT. Paludan has regularly been at the center of incidents in recent years.
In November 2020, he was arrested in France and deported. Five other activists were arrested in Belgium shortly afterwards, accused of wanting to “spread hatred” by burning a Koran in Brussels.
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