Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right political party Hard Line, burned the Koran. Paludan, who also holds Swedish citizenship, has held several demonstrations in the past where he has burned Qurans.
Paludan could not immediately be reached by email for comment. In the permit obtained from the police, it says their protest was against Islam and what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called an attempt to influence freedom of expression in Sweden.
Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, condemned the burning of the Quran. “Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but all 30 member states must accept their bids. Turkey has said Sweden in particular should first take a clearer stance against those it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group responsible for the 2016 coup attempt.
Standing in front of a large red banner reading “We are all PKK”, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party banned in Turkey, Sweden and the United States, in a demonstration to oppose Sweden’s NATO bid and show support for the Kurds were. among other countries, and addressed several hundred pro-Kurdish and leftist supporters.
“We will continue to oppose the Swedish NATO application,” said Thomas Pettersen, spokesman for the Alliance Against NATO and one of the organizers of the demonstration.
Police said the situation remained calm in all the three demonstrations.
In Istanbul, a group of about 200 protesters set fire to a Swedish flag in front of the Swedish consulate in response to people burning Qurans.