Swedish Populist on Qur’an Burnings: If They Get Upset, Burn a Hundred More

A member of the populist Sweden Democrats (SD) has weighed in on the controversial burning of a copy of the Qur’an last weekend, stating that the reaction from Turkey and the Islamic world has been unreasonable.

SD member Richard Jomshof, chairman of the Justice Committee, gave his opinion on the burning of the Qur’an last week in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm by Danish anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan, claiming the backlash had been exaggerated.

“I don’t think you should do it, but you can do it and if they get upset, then fire up a hundred more,” Jomshof said this week, broadcaster SVT reports.

Jomshof also criticised Swedish conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who released statement condemning the Qur’an burning earlier this week, saying, ” I don’t think he should apologise. I think he’s going too far there.”

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental part of democracy. But what is legal is not necessarily appropriate. Burning books that are holy to many is a deeply disrespectful act. I want to express my sympathy for all Muslims who are offended by what has happened in Stockholm today,” the prime minister said on Twitter.

Responding to the post, Jomsholf said: “We have to be able to talk to each other, absolutely. But we cannot compromise on our freedom of opinion and expression.”

Jomshof is not the only one to criticise the statement, as internal SD emails leaked by a Swedish newspaper showed that party leader Jimmie Åkesson was also critical of the statement, saying, “there is definitely a limit to when sanity and balance in the debate turns into pure creeping for dictatorship-craven Islamism and ‘understanding’ of Islamists who have settled in Sweden and do not respect the most basic principles of our society.”

Åkesson later spoke publicly on the affair saying, “It is worrying if it can be perceived as the government apologizing for the fact that we have democracy in Sweden.”

Since last weekend’s demonstration, the al-Azhar University in Cairo, the centre of thought in the Sunni branch of Islam, called for a boycott of Swedish products.

Turkey has also been angered by the Qur’an burning, putting Sweden’s application to join NATO at risk, with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stating Thursday that talks with Sweden were “meaningless” following the demonstration.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.