Danish anti-Islam politician and activist Rasmus Paludan has been granted permission to hold a demonstration in the Swedish city of Gothenburg nearly two years after his supporters burned a Qu’ran in Malmo, sparking a riot.
Paludan, who leads the Danish political party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), was granted permission to hold a demonstration in Gothenburg this Saturday in the area of Frölunda Torg in the early afternoon.
According to police, Paludan also sought permission to hold demonstrations in Hjällbo Torg in the suburbs of Gothenburg and the centre of the suburb of Angered but was denied permission, broadcaster SVT reports.
“We do a threat and risk assessment, the risks for him and for people who are going to listen. Then we have simply excluded Hjällbo and Angered’s centre,” police officer Anders Börjesson told the broadcaster.
“We will make our own assessment in Gothenburg, based on location and opportunity. It is a fundamental right to be heard in Sweden and then we have landed in this,” Börjesson added.
According to Stram Kurs, the group plans to burn a copy of the Qu’ran at the demonstration and display an image of the Islamic prophet Mohammed.
In August of 2020, Stram Kurs activists set fire to a Qu’ran in the southern Swedish city of Malmo, which led to riots later in the day.
Muslim rioters attacked and injured several police officers. Several months later in December of that year, a 31-year-old man and six teens were sentenced by a Swedish court for participating in the violence.
Members of Stram Kurs also set fire to a copy of the Qu’ran in the no-go Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby in September of 2020, leading to local police launching an investigation into the activists for incitement to racial hatred.
However, in November of 2020, a Swedish prosecutor in Malmo dropped charges against a member of Paludan’s group for the August Qu’ran burning, determining that burning a copy of the Qu’ran was not a crime in itself.