HELSINKI (AP) – Unrest erupted in southern Sweden late Saturday, although police moved a rally of an anti-Islamic far-right group that planned to burn the Koran, among other things, to a new location as a precautionary measure.
Clashes and riots were reported in the southern town of Landskrona after a demonstration planned there by the Danish right-wing party Stram Kurs was moved to the nearby town of Malmö, about 45km (27 miles) south.
Up to 100 mostly young people threw stones, set fire to cars, tires and trash cans and erected a barrier fence that obstructed traffic, Swedish police said. The situation calmed down in Landskrona until late Saturday, but remains tense, police said, adding that no one was injured in the action.
Violent clashes broke out between protesters and counter-protesters in the central city of Orebro on Friday night before Stram Course’s plan to burn the Koran there, leaving 12 police officers injured and four police cars on fire.
Videos and photos from the chaotic scenes in Orebro show burning police cars and protesters throwing stones and other objects at police in riot gear.
Kim Hild, a police spokeswoman in southern Sweden, said earlier on Saturday that police would not revoke the permit for the Landskrona demonstration, as the threshold is very high in Sweden, which values freedom of speech.
The right of protesters to “demonstrate and speak weighs enormously, heavily, and an incredible amount is needed to ignore this,” Hild told the Swedish news agency TT.
The demonstration took place on Saturday night in Malmö Central Park, where Stram Kurs leader Rasmus Paludan addressed several dozen people. A small number of counter-protesters hurled stones at protesters, and police were forced to use pepper spray to disperse them.
Paludan himself was reportedly hit with a stone in his leg, Swedish media reported. There were no reports of serious injuries, according to police.
Clashes have been reported since Thursday in both Stockholm and the cities of Linköping and Norrkoping, all places where Stram Kurs has either planned or demonstrated.
Paludan, a Danish lawyer who also has Swedish citizenship, created Stram Kurs or “Hard Line” in 2017. The website of the party, which works on anti-immigration and anti-Islamic programs, says “Stram Kurs is the most patriotic political party in Denmark.”
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