Riots in Sweden after the latest anti-Muslim provocations by Rasmus Paludan

Scene of riots in Norrköping, Sweden, this Sunday, April 17, 2022. AFP - STEFAN JERREVANG

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Sweden experienced this Sunday April 17 its fourth day of riots.

At the origin of these troubles, there is Rasmus Paludan, an extreme right-wing activist, with dual Danish and Swedish nationality.

He wants to burn editions of the Koran in the suburbs in the name of freedom of expression.

A freedom which, in Scandinavia, has a much broader definition than in the rest of Europe.

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With our correspondent in Stockholm,

The latest riots took place this Sunday, April 17 in Norrköping and Linköping, where dozens of young people set police cars on fire to protest against Rasmus Paludan's demonstrations.

The same scenes have taken place since Thursday in Öbrero, Stockholm, Malmö.

This is not Rasmus Paludan's first attempt.

With his party named Stram Kurs (Hard Line), he had already tried in September 2020 to cause unrest in Sweden.

Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish Stram Kurs party, during the Danish parliamentary elections on June 5, 2019 in Copenhagen.

AFP - HENNING BAGGER

While he has obtained what he was looking for in recent days, the Swedish Prime Minister condemned the violence directed against the police, recalling that everyone in Sweden could express their opinions.

Others wonder why the police did not preemptively ban these demonstrations, knowing that they would cause a major disturbance to public order.

A debate to which the inhabitants of Jönköping, another city, responded in their own way: when Rasmus Paludan started shouting his slogans in his megaphone, they simply ignored him.

After a few moments, the far-right activists left on their own, for lack of an audience.

►Read again: In Sweden, clashes break out in Malmö after Islamophobic acts

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