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New clashes over anti-immigration rally in Sweden

18 Apr 2022 10:11am
Protesters set fire to a barricade to block access to a shopping area during riots in Norrkoping, Sweden. Pic - EPA/Stefan Jerrevang SWEDEN OUT
Protesters set fire to a barricade to block access to a shopping area during riots in Norrkoping, Sweden. Pic - EPA/Stefan Jerrevang SWEDEN OUT

Stockholm - Plans by a far-right group to publicly burn copies of the Koran sparked violent clashes with counter-demonstrators for the third day running in Sweden, police said on Sunday.

In eastern Norrkoping, "during an attack on the police, warning shots were fired.

As a result of these shots, a man may have been hit in the leg by a ricochet", the police said in a statement.

Litter bins, a bus and a car were all set on fire in a series of incidents in the southern city of Malmo overnight, police said in a statement.

"The situation calmed down towards 3:00 am (0100 GMT)," police spokeswoman Kim Hild told SR public radio, adding that no officers were hurt, but a number of members of the public were slightly injured.

Nearly 20 complaints had been filed, including for vandalism.

There have been similar clashes in recent days over plans by the anti-immigration and anti-Islamic Stram Kurs (Hard Line) movement led by Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan to burn copies of the Koran in public.

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The clashes on Saturday broke out after a rally by the group's supporters.

Three police officers had to be taken to hospital after a riot broke out in the city of Linkoping in eastern Sweden on Thursday. Two people were arrested at that protest.

And on Friday, nine police officers were injured in similar clashes in Orebro in central Sweden.

In the wake of the string of incidents, Iraq's foreign ministry said that it had summoned the Swedish charge d'affaires in Baghdad on Sunday.

It warned that the affair could have "serious repercussions" on "relations between Sweden and Muslims in general, both Muslim and Arab countries and Muslim communities in Europe".

Paludan plans to hold further rallies in two other cities in Sweden, but the demonstrations have not received the go-ahead by police.

Koran
Riots
IMMIGRATION
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