HELSINKI (AP) – Police in Sweden say they are preparing for new violent clashes following riots that erupted between protesters and counter-protesters in the central city of Orebro on Friday before an anti-Islamic far-right group plans to burn the Koran there.
Kim Hild, a police spokeswoman in southern Sweden, said police would not revoke permission for a planned demonstration by Denmark’s right-wing Stram Kurs in the southern town of Landskrona on Saturday, as the threshold is very high in Sweden, which values freedom of speech. .
The right of protesters to “demonstrate and speak is very heavy and it takes an incredible amount to ignore it,” Hild told the Swedish news agency TT.
However, police said the rally would be moved to another undiscovered location, according to TT. Stram Kurs leader Rasmus Paludan also plans to burn the Koran in Landskrona, the agency said.
Hild said police were preparing for the demonstration and possible violence with additional resources “given what has happened in recent days” in the Scandinavian country.
Two days of riots in various Swedish cities and towns sparked by the Stram Course demonstration ended in violent clashes in Orebro late Friday, in which 12 police officers were injured and four police cars were set on fire.
Videos and photos from the chaotic scenes in Orebro show burning police cars and protesters throwing stones and other objects at police in riot gear.
Clashes have been reported in recent days in both Stockholm and the cities of Linköping and Norrkoping, all places where Stram Kurs has either planned or demonstrated.
Paludan, a Danish lawyer who also has Swedish citizenship, created Stram Kurs or “Hard Line” in 2017. The website of the party, which works on anti-immigration and anti-Islamic programs, says “Stram Kurs is the most patriotic political party in Denmark.”
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