Riots broke out in the Swedish city of Malmö on Sunday after Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika set another Koran on fire. An angry mob in the deprived district of Rosengård (‘Rose Garden’), where many immigrants live, stabbed according to Swedish media cars on fire and threw stones at the police. After that, peace seemed to have returned, but in the middle of the night the emergency services had to turn out again because of a fire in an underground parking garage. As far as is known, no one has yet been arrested in the evening.
The unrest started on Sunday afternoon, when 37-year-old Momika burned a Quran in the center of Malmö in front of hundreds of counter-demonstrators. Tensions rose and reached a boiling point when two protesters broke through the police line of protection and tried to stop Momika. The police arrested three people. Not long after, Momika, herself a Christian, broke off his activities early. A police van took him away — after someone tried to block it.
Quran burnings and the fierce reactions they provoke are a recurring phenomenon in Sweden. Since the Danish-Swedish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan started it a few years ago, Muslims at home and abroad have been urging it to be banned. That does not seem to happen, however: freedom of expression is a great and protected asset in Sweden. In addition, the government depends on cooperation with the radical right-wing Sweden Democrats, and they do not want to give in to the pressure.
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