Swedish police arrested two people and detained around 100 after a violent riot broke out at a protest against the desecration of the Holy Quran, police said.
The protest was organised on Sunday by an Iraqi refugee, whose protests — which have included public desecrations of the holy book — have sparked outrage across the Middle East.
Sunday’s protest was held in a square in the southern city of Malmo, which has a large immigrant population, and according to public broadcaster SVT around 200 people had showed up to watch.
“Some onlookers have shown upset feelings after the organiser burned writings,” police said in a statement.
“The mood was at times heated,” the statement said, adding that a “violent riot” occurred at 1:45 pm (1145 GMT).
According to police, the event had ended after the organiser left but a group of people remained at the scene. Masked men were seen chanting slogans against the desecration and demanding the government to put a stop to it.
About 100 people were detained for disturbing the public order and another two were arrested, suspected of violent rioting.
Local media reported that some onlookers threw rocks at the man who desecrated the Quran, and video from the scene showed some trying to break through the cordon before being stopped by police.
In another video, a man could be seen trying to stop the police car that transported the Iraqi Refugee from the location by getting in front of it.
Read: Swedish woman who tried to stop Quran desecration is a non-Muslim
Through a series of demonstrations, he has sparked anger directed at Sweden and diplomatic tensions between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries.
The Swedish government has condemned the desecrations of the Holy Quran while noting the country’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.
Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
Swedish envoys have also been summoned in a slew of Middle Eastern nations.
In mid-August, Sweden’s intelligence agency heightened its terror alert level to four on a scale of five, noting that Sweden had “gone from being considered a legitimate target for terrorist attacks to being considered a prioritised target.” Sweden also decided to beef up border controls in early August.
In late August, neighbouring Denmark — which has also seen a string of public desecrations of the Holy Quran — said it plans to ban the burnings.
Sweden has, meanwhile, vowed to explore legal means of stopping protests involving the burning of texts in certain circumstances.
Meanwhile, local media said that repeated acts of the Quran’s desecration in the last nine months have cost Sweden nearly $200,000.
While the Swedish government acknowledged that these vile acts hurt Sweden’s image and put security at risk, the acts of desecration continue with permission from the authorities.
Provocative acts of the Quran desecration have cost 2.2 million Swedish krona (some $199,300) from the country, according to Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Radio.
These acts raised the cost due to the deployment of more police officers and disrupted the routine duties of many of them.
