Riots erupt in Sweden before far-right rally

Counter-protesters injured four Swedish police officers and a member of the public in Orebro, central Sweden, on Friday as they demonstrated against a far-right group’s plan to burn a Quran.

As protestors flung stones and big groups attacked police cordons and tore down riot barricades, four police cars were set on fire, and at least four officers and one private civilian were hurt, according to police.

The anti-immigration and anti-Islamic far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) movement, led by Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan, had clashed on the edges of a gathering for the second day in a row.

Police cancelled the gathering, which had been granted authorization, to calm the atmosphere, and by Friday evening, most counter-demonstrators had departed the area, according to police.

Three police officers were hospitalised on Thursday after a fight broke out in Linkoping, Sweden’s east coast city, where a rally with a Quran burning was scheduled. At that demonstration, two persons were arrested.

“We live in a democratic society, and one of the most important tasks of the police is to ensure that people can exercise their constitutionally protected rights to demonstrate and express their opinions,” Sweden’s National Police Chief Anders Thornberg said on Friday morning in response to the events of Thursday.

“The police do not get to pick who has this right,” he continued in a statement, “but they must always intervene in cases of violation.”

In recent years, far-right leader Paludan has been at the centre of numerous incidents. He was arrested and deported from France in November 2020. Soon after, five more activists were arrested in Belgium, accused of attempting to “promote hatred” by torching a Quran in Brussels.