This is coming a week after the burning of a Koran outside the main mosque in the city that sparked a backlash across the Islamic world.
No fewer than three requests to burn religious texts, including a Torah book, have been submitted to police in Sweden by self-described free-speech advocates in what would likely spark further international uproar.
This is coming a week after the burning of a Koran outside the main mosque in the city that sparked a backlash across the Islamic world.
Daily Mail reports that the police force confirmed to Sweden’s national public broadcaster that it had received an application from a man in his 30s to burn Jewish and Christian holy books outside the embassy on July 15 as “a symbolic gathering for the sake of freedom of speech.”
Another request, one to burn a Koran “as soon as possible” in Stockholm, was submitted by a woman in her 50s. Two previous petitions to set the Muslim holy book afire were approved by the police, triggering international condemnation.
The latest applications are under review.
“I am shocked and horrified by the prospect of the burning of more books in Sweden, be it the Koran, the Torah or any other holy book,” Israel’s Ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman tweeted. “This is clearly an act of hatred that must be stopped.”
Aron Verstandig, chairman of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, told JNS: “We think that the burning of all religious books is a disgrace and completely inappropriate.”
He noted that although these were isolated events, the burning of the Koran—first in front of the Turkish embassy and then outside the central city mosque—has already hurt Sweden in the international arena.
One of the three new applications would involve the burning of the Islamic holy text outside a mosque in Stockholm, as was the case with the burning on June 28.
The organiser, a woman in her 50s, has said in her application she wants to be given permission to carry out the protest 'as soon as possible.'
Another application concerns the burning of the Torah and the Bible outside Stockholm's Israeli embassy, with the organiser requesting June 15 as the date.
The 30-year-old behind the application has written in his request that it is in response to last week's Koran burning, and called it 'a symbolic gathering for the sake of freedom of expression'.
The third application to burn 'religious texts' on July 12 has been made in Helsingborg by someone the police called a 'private person'.
The Jewish community leaders previously condemned both Koran burnings.
Sweden’s government on Sunday also condemned the Quran burning, calling it an “Islamophobic” act after a call for collective measures to avoid future Quran burnings was issued by the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The 57-member body met at its Jeddah headquarters to respond to last Wednesday’s incident, in which an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book, filled some pages with bacon and set several others alight.
“The burning of the Quran, or any other holy text, is an offensive and disrespectful act and a clear provocation. Expressions of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance have no place in Sweden or in Europe,” the Swedish foreign ministry said.
At the same time, the ministry added that Sweden has a “constitutionally protected right to freedom of assembly, expression and demonstration.”
Countries including Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco have summoned Swedish ambassadors in protest at the Quran burning incident.
Swedish police had granted Momika a permit in line with free speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over “agitation against an ethnic group,” noting that Momika had burnt pages from the Islamic holy book very close to Stockholm’s largest mosque.