Riots In Sweden's Malmo After Activists Burn Copy Of Quran In A Rally, Anti-Muslim Danish Leader Banned For 2 Yrs

Sweden Riots: At least 300 people gathered and burned the Muslim Holy book Quran in Rosengard after which protesters came out on the streets of Malmo to throw stones and burned tyres to express anger.

Sweden Riots: Violence broke out in Southern Sweden and at least 10 people were arrested in southern Sweden and several police officers injured on Friday after clashes triggered by an illegal protest where a copy of the Quran was burned.

Protesters in Malmo city threw stones at police and burned tyres on the streets late on Friday, with violence escalating as the night wore on, according to police and local media.

The demonstration of about 300 people was connected to a rally earlier on Friday in which activists burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in Rosengard, a largely migrant neighbourhood, police spokesman Rickard Lundqvist told Swedish tabloid, Expressen.

Anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan was expected to attend that rally, but was stopped by the police at the Swedish-Danish border, police said. Paludan was invited by Swedish artist and provocateur Dan Park, who has previously been convicted of incitement against ethnic groups. But authorities pre-empted Paludan's arrival by announcing he had been banned from entering Sweden for two years. He was later arrested near Malmo. "We suspect that he was going to break the law in Sweden," Calle Persson, spokesman for the police in Malmo told AFP. "There was also a risk that his behaviour would pose a threat to society." But his supporters went ahead with the rally, and three people were then arrested for inciting racial hatred. Paludan later put up a scathing message on Facebook. "Sent back and banned from Sweden for two years. However, rapists and murderers are always welcome!" he wrote. Also Watch|Sweden: Riots break out after Right-wing supporters burn a copy of Quran

Who is Rasmus Paludan?

Paludan is a Danish politician and lawyer who founded the far-right party Stam Kurs in 2017 and was noticed for making anti-Muslim videos on YouTube, the contents of which included burning the Quran, at times wrapped in bacon, which he justified as a tribute to free speech.

 In June, Paludan was convicted on charges of racism for posting anti-Islam videos on his party’s social media channels, as a result of which he was sentenced to three months in jail and was disbarred from practicing law. In 2019, he was sentenced to 14 days of conditional imprisonment for delivering a racist speech. In June he was found guilty on 14 counts including racism, defamation, and hazardous driving, and served one month in jail along with two months of a suspended sentence.

Paludan was close to getting into parliament in the last Danish elections with a policy based on deporting more than 300,000 Muslims from Denmark and banning Islam. On Friday, Paludan was barred from entering Sweden and was given a two-year entry ban.