Sweden’s Quran Burning Sparks Anger Across Muslim Countries

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

Several Muslim countries have condemned Sweden for allowing an Iraqi protester to burn a Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque on Wednesday.

Under a heavy police presence and in front of a crowd of 200, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old who fled to Sweden several years ago, put bacon in the pages of a Quran before stomping on it and setting it on fire.

Police had granted him a permit for the protest in line with free-speech protections after an appeal court rejected their ban on Quran-burning protests, but said later the man had been charged with agitation against an ethnic or national group.

The stunt sparked anger across the Muslim world, including in Turkey which is currently blocking Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance.

Iraq slammed the burning of the Quran, calling it ‘racist’ and ‘irresponsible’, while Morocco recalled its ambassador to Stockholm late on Wednesday.

The United States State Department also weighed in, with spokesman Vedant Patel calling the burning of religious texts ‘disrespectful and hurtful’. ‘What might be legal is certainly not necessarily appropriate,’ he said.