At least 10 people were arrested and several police officers injured during clashes in southern Sweden sparked by a Koran-burning rally held by a far-right group, police said on Saturday.
An anti-Muslim Danish politician was blocked from attending the rally, police said.
Protesters threw stones at police and burned tires on the streets of Malmo late on Friday, with the violence escalating as the evening wore on, police said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The demonstration of about 300 people was connected to an incident earlier in the day in which the group burned a copy of the Islamic holy book, police spokesman Rickard Lundqvist told Swedish tabloid Expressen.
Ten to 20 protesters were arrested late on Friday, but were all subsequently released, police spokesman Patric Fors told reporters.
Several police officers were slightly injured, he added.
The violence had subsided by Saturday morning.
“Those who act like this have nothing to do with Islam,” Samir Muric, an imam, said on Facebook.
“It’s not right,” Malmo resident Shahed told the SVT public broadcaster. “But it wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t burnt the Koran,” he added.
Rasmus Paludan, leader of the far-right Danish anti-immigration party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), was due to travel to Malmo to speak at the rally on Friday, which is the same day as the main weekly prayers for Muslims.
However authorities pre-empted Paludan’s arrival by announcing that he had been banned from entering Sweden for two years.
Police later arrested him near Malmo.
“We suspect that he was going to break the law in Sweden,” Malmo police spokesman Calle Persson told reporters. “There was also a risk that his behavior... would pose a threat to society.”
His supporters went ahead with the rally, during which six people were arrested for inciting racial hatred.
“It hurts,” Salim Mohammed Ali, a Muslim resident of Malmo for more than 20 years, told SVT on Saturday.
“People get angry and I understand that, but there are other ways of doing things,” he added.
Paludan, a lawyer, later put up a scathing message on Facebook. He is also active on YouTube.
“Sent back and banned from Sweden for two years. However, rapists and murderers are always welcome!” he wrote.
Meanwhile, in Norway, a group held an anti-Muslim demonstration on Saturday, during which one woman tore pages from the Koran and spat on it.
Paludan last year attracted media attention for burning a Koran wrapped in bacon — a meat that is anathema for Muslims.
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