Third night of rioting in Sweden after a far-right anti-Islam demonstration sparked protests

A city bus burns on a street in Malmo, Sweden, during demonstration by far-right anti-Islam protesters on Saturday. Photograph: Johan Nilsson/AP

On Saturday, southern Sweden had another night of disturbance over an anti-Islam far-right political party's plans to burn a Qur'an, among other things.

Police said up to 100 people, primarily young, threw stones, set fire to cars, tires, and dustbins, and erected a barrier fence in the town of Landskrona after authorities moved a demonstration scheduled for the city by the Danish party Stram Kurs to the nearby city of Malmö, about 45 kilometers (27 miles) to the south.

By late Saturday, the scene in Landskrona had cooled but remained tense, police said, adding that no one had been injured.

Kim Hild, the police spokeswoman for southern Sweden, had earlier stated on Saturday that police would not cancel authorization for the Landskrona demonstration organized by the party Stram Kurs, citing Sweden's incredibly high bar for revocation of free speech.

The demonstrators' freedom to demonstrate and voice out "weighs enormously, heavily, and it takes an incredible amount to ignore this," Hild told Swedish news agency TT.

Since Thursday, conflicts have also been reported in Stockholm, Linkoping, and Norrkoping - all sites where Stram Kurs planned or held rallies.

On Friday evening, violent battles between demonstrators and counter-protesters erupted in Orebro's central city center, injuring 12 police officers and setting fire to four police vehicles.

Video video and photographs from Orebro's chaotic events showed burned police cars and protesters hurling stones and other objects at riot-clad police officers.

Rasmus Paludan, Stram Kurs' leader, addressed a few dozen people at Saturday's march in Malmö's central park. Counter-protesters hurled stones at protestors, prompting police to use pepper spray to disperse them.

According to Swedish media, Paludan was reportedly struck by a stone. According to police, no significant injuries were reported.

Paludan, a Danish lawyer with dual citizenship in Sweden, founded Stram Kurs, or Hard Line, in 2017. It is anti-immigration and anti-Islam.

Publish : 2022-04-17 12:00:00

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