Stockholm: A 32-year-old man, whose plans to burn a Torah in Stockholm drew criticism from Israel, announced on Saturday that he would not proceed with his protest.
He clarified that his true goal was to condemn those who burn holy texts like the Qur'an in the Nordic nation. The Torah and the Bible were going to be burned as part of a protest outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, according to Swedish police, who said they had approved the permit on Friday.
One of many Israeli representatives and Jewish organizations to swiftly denounce the choice was Israel's President Isaac Herzog.
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The demonstration's organizer, Ahmad A., clarified that his goal was not to burn the holy books but rather to condemn those who recently burned copies of the Qur'an in Sweden, despite the fact that Swedish law does not forbid such acts.
"This is a retaliation against those who burn the Qur'an. I want to demonstrate that there are boundaries to freedom of expression that must be considered, said the Syrian-born resident of Sweden.
"I want to demonstrate that because we all live in the same society, we must respect one another. There will be war here if I set fire to the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur'an. I wanted to demonstrate that doing it is wrong, he continued.
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Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist, burned a Qur'an in January to protest Sweden's application to join NATO and the talks with Turkey to do so.
During the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha, which is observed on June 28, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden burned some pages of a copy of the Qur'an in front of Stockholm's largest mosque.
Following the two incidents, the Muslim world issued a number of condemnations. Although the Swedish police emphasized that a permit to protest did not constitute a formal authorization to burn a holy book, there is no law that forbids it.
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However, if a demonstration endangers security or gives rise to actions or speech that incite racial hatred, the police have the right to forbid it.