Three people were shot and wounded in violent clashes on Sunday, April 17 in Sweden, between the police and demonstrators protesting against a far-right group that prides itself on burning the Koran during its public gatherings.

Twenty-six people were also arrested, police said Monday.

"Police fired several warning shots. Three people appear to have been hit by ricochets and are currently being treated in hospital," police wrote in a statement.

The three injured, whose condition is not known, are also "under arrest, suspected of a crime", it is specified.

This is the second such clash in four days in Norrkoping. 

The first time, the demonstrators had protested against a rally of the anti-immigration and anti-Islam hard line group, led by Rasmus Paludan.

On Sunday, they demonstrated again with a view to another rally, which Rasmus Paludan finally gave up.

In Norrköping, four people were arrested among the approximately 150 participants in this "violent riot", during which stones were thrown at the police and cars were burned, said the police.

According to the health services quoted by the local agency TT, ten people were hospitalized with minor injuries following these clashes as well as similar clashes in the neighboring town of Linköping, where Hardline also gave up a expression.

Sentenced for racist insults in Denmark

The Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan, 40, intends to stand in the legislative elections in Sweden in September.

But he does not currently have the necessary signatures to apply and is currently on a "tour" in Sweden where he is going to neighborhoods with a large Muslim population to burn the Koran there.

In 2019, this trained lawyer, who was convicted of racist insults, had already tried his luck in Denmark, his native country, where he had collected barely 10,000 votes.

Also a youtuber, he has caused incidents on several occasions in recent years.

In 2019, he burned a Quran wrapped in bacon and was blocked for a month by Facebook after posting a photo conflating immigration and crime.

In November 2020, he was arrested in France, then deported.

Five other activists were arrested in Belgium shortly after, accused of wanting to "spread hatred" by burning a Koran in Brussels.

Iraq complains about Rasmus Paludan to Sweden

Following these events, Iraqi diplomacy announced in a press release that it had summoned the Swedish charge d'affaires on Sunday.

She believes that letting far-right supporters demonstrate wishing to burn a copy of the Koran is an act "provocative for the feelings of Muslims and offensive for what is sacred to them".

And she warns of the "serious repercussions" of this affair on "relations between Sweden and Muslims in general, whether in Muslim or Arab countries, or in Muslim communities in Europe".

With AFP

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