Stockholm: Israeli and Jewish organisations condemned the Swedish police's announcement on Friday that they had approved a permit for a protest that would include the burning of holy texts outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm.
The contentious demonstration is set to take place on Saturday, weeks after a man set fire to Qur'anic pages outside Stockholm's main mosque, sparking outrage and condemnations all over the world.
According to the application to police, the demonstration would involve the burning of the Torah and the Bible, be in response to the Qur'an burning protest, and be an expression of support for free speech.
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In a statement to AFP, Stockholm police emphasised that they only issued permits for people to hold public gatherings, not for the activities that took place during them, in accordance with Swedish law.
According to Carina Skagerlind, press representative for the Stockholm police, "the police does not issue permits to burn various religious texts—the police issues permits to hold a public gathering and express an opinion."
It's "an important distinction," she continued.
One of many Israeli representatives and Jewish organisations to swiftly denounce the choice was Israel's President Isaac Herzog.
Herzog issued a statement saying, "I unequivocally condemn the permission granted in Sweden to burn holy books."
The head of state continued, "I denounced the burning of the Qur'an, which is revered by Muslims everywhere, and I am heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible, the eternal book of the Jewish people.
The World Zionist Organization's chairman, Yaakov Hagoel, claimed in a statement that issuing the permit was "not freedom of expression, but antisemitism."
Salwan Momika, 37, was given permission by the Swedish police to protest in June by trampling on the Qur'an and torching several pages.
The permit was issued in accordance with the rights to free speech, but later, officials claimed they had launched an investigation into "agitation against an ethnic group" after learning that Momika had burned pages from the Koran very close to the mosque.
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In response to the incident involving the burning of the Qur'an, nations such as Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco summoned the Swedish ambassadors. This prompted an emergency meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The government of Sweden also denounced the burning as "Islamophobic," but it also noted that Sweden's "constitutionally protected right to freedom of assembly, expression, and demonstration.
