Sweden’s prime minister considers it inappropriate to allow the police to burn the Koran

The decision by the Stockholm police to allow a Quran-burning rally near a mosque is legal but inappropriate. This was stated by Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson.

“It’s legal, but inappropriate. <...> I think we live in a time where we need to stay calm and think about what is best for Sweden’s long-term interests,” he said (quote according to Reuters).

At the same time, Kristersson did not answer the question of how the agreed action could affect the process of Sweden’s accession to NATO.

Earlier today, the Stockholm police gave permission for another demonstration with the burning of the Koran next to the mosque. How informs “Swedish Radio”, in the spring the police rejected the application for such an event. However, the organizers of the rally appealed to the court, which recognized the decision of the police as erroneous and explained that in order to refuse to hold the rally, it must be “clearly connected with fears of violation of order and security.”

Now law enforcement agencies refer to the court decision. The police considered that there were not enough grounds for rejecting the application for a demonstration this time.

In January, Danish politician Rasmus Paludan held an action with the burning of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. After that, tensions arose in relations between the two countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden should no longer wait for support for its application to join NATO. Türkiye continues to block Sweden’s accession to NATO. The country filed an application back in May 2022 at the same time as Finland.

Finland officially joined the alliance on 4 April. In the Kremlin considered the expansion of the alliance with an encroachment on the security and national interests of Russia, as well as another step towards escalation.

In June, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg notedthat Sweden has complied with the requirements of the Turkish authorities in the framework of the tripartite memorandum and now has the right to join the alliance. He noted that Ankara still has time to ratify Sweden’s application before the July NATO summit in Vilnius.