Swedish police on Friday announced a controversial decision to allow a protest involving the burning of the Jewish religious book Torah and Bible outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm.
This comes after his recent decision to allow Quran burning ahead of Eid-ul-Adha has sparked outrage in Muslim countries. The latest decision drew similar outrage from Israeli officials, who called for a halt to the protests, reports the AP.
A man had reportedly filed a request stating that he wanted to burn the Torah and Bible on Saturday following an incident of Quran burning outside a mosque last month. Stockholm police approved the request and said three people would participate in the demonstration outside the Israeli embassy.
Sweden strongly supports the right to demonstrate publicly. However, the police also said that they “do not give permission for various functions”, but only for public meetings.
In response, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said, “As President of the State of Israel, I condemned the burning of the Holy Quran to Muslims around the world, and I am now saddened that the same fate awaits the Jewish Bible, the eternal book.” doing.” of the Jewish people.”
Other Israeli leaders such as Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef also condemned the protests and called on the Swedish authorities to intervene.
The Council of Swedish Jewish Communities also criticized the decision to allow the protest, saying that “our sad European history links the burning of Jewish books with pogroms, expulsions, the Inquisition and the Holocaust.”
On Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Council approved a resolution calling on countries to end religious hatred, despite objections from the United States and the United Kingdom over fears of curtailing freedom of expression.
In late June, a man insulted the Holy Quran in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Initially, Swedish authorities rejected the protesters’ demand saying the burning “could have foreign policy consequences”, but the security risks and potential impacts associated with the protest did not allow the application to be rejected, Politico Report of. However, the Swedish court rejected the police decision citing the protection of freedom of expression in its reasoning.
Muslim countries strongly condemned this action. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Stockholm that he would not support Sweden’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). If it failed to respect Muslims. After this Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait also condemned the incident.
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