Stockholm: On Monday, a Swedish appeals court ruled that police had no justification for preventing two events where protesters had earlier this year planned to burn the Qur'an.

Indignation over the burning of the Qur'an outside Turkey's embassy in Stockholm in January sparked weeks of demonstrations, calls for a boycott of Swedish goods, and further stalled Sweden's NATO membership application.

Following that incident, police turned down two additional requests to burn the Qur'an outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm in February, one coming from a private citizen and the other from an organisation.

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Police claimed that the protest in January had elevated Sweden to the status of "a higher priority target for attacks."

The Stockholm Administrative Court overturned the rulings after hearing appeals from both protest organisers, stating that the security concerns raised were insufficient to restrict the right to demonstrate.

However, the Stockholm Police appealed the decisions as well, and the appeals court sided with the lower administrative court on Monday.

The appeals court found that "the order and security problems" mentioned by the police in both decisions on the two distinct applications lacked "a sufficiently clear connection to the planned event or its immediate vicinity."

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It further stated that an appeal of the decision could be made to Sweden's Supreme Administrative Court.

Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish-Danish activist who has already been found guilty of making racist remarks, had planned the demonstration in Sweden in January with the approval of Swedish police.

Additionally, Paludan caused unrest in Sweden last year when he went on a tour of the nation and openly burned copies of the Qur'an.

Sweden's relations with Turkey were also harmed by the burning of the Qur'an in January; Turkey was particularly offended by the fact that police had permitted the protest.

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Sweden's NATO application has been blocked by Ankara because of what it sees as Stockholm's failure to take action against Kurdish groups it considers to be "terrorists."

The Qur'an burning has drawn criticism from Swedish politicians, who have also vehemently defended the right to free speech.