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Quran burning in Sweden reignites anger in Muslim world
Responding to calls to send an official diplomatic note to protest the Swedish government, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that Swedish Ambassador Marina Berg would be summoned this week.
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Protesters stand by a charred Swedish flag as they demonstrate in front of the Consulate General of Sweden in Istanbul, Turkey, on Saturday, after Rasmus Paludan, leader
of Danish far-right political party Hard Line and who also has Swedish citizenship, burned a copy of the Quran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, inciting anger worldwide. (AFP/Yasin Akgul)
T
he politically symbolic burning of the Quran by a fringe European politician at the weekend has inflamed the Muslim world, with Indonesia among the latest to condemn the act amid demands for accountability.
The defacing of Islam’s holy scripture is considered an act of provocation to most in Indonesia, host of the world's largest Muslim population, regardless of whether the act was aimed at another nation entirely.
Swedish-Danish activist Rasmus Paludan, who has previously been convicted of racial abuse, repeated the act he did last year in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on Saturday in protest against Ankara’s demands to repatriate Kurdish activists, a sticking point in Sweden’s attempt to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Paludan’s theatrics, and the fact that he got a permit to protest despite his anti-Islamic rhetoric that sparked riots across Sweden last year, angered Turkey and led it to cancel a scheduled visit by Sweden’s defense minister.
Dozens of protesters gathered in Istanbul on Saturday to call on Turkey to sever ties with Sweden, AFP reported.
Many Muslim and Muslim-majority countries, as well as the organizations representing them, joined in on the chorus of outrage – including Indonesia.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned” the act and demanded that freedom of expression be responsibly exercised. “This act of blasphemy has hurt and tarnished religious tolerance. Freedom of expression must be exercised in a responsible manner,” the ministry stated through its official Twitter account on Sunday.
