The Swedish government accused what it described as "actors from foreign countries" of being behind the events that erupted after the leader of the right-wing "Straam Corse" (hard line) movement, the Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan, torching a copy of the Holy Quran.

China has criticized Sweden and demanded that it respect the beliefs of Muslims against the background of the arson incident, while the Swedish state television dismissed one of its correspondents from his job because of his criticism of Baludan.

Last Saturday, "Straamcourse" burned a copy of the Holy Qur'an in the Swedish city of Malmo, and its leader burned another copy of the Noble Qur'an in the city of Linkoping (south of the country) under the protection of the police.

Swedish Justice Minister Morgan Johnson said - in a statement to the local newspaper Aftonbladet today, commenting on the injury of 26 policemen and 14 demonstrators and the destruction of 20 police cars during demonstrations that swept several cities in the country - "The governments of countries such as Iraq and Iran are at the heart of these events."

He added, "Paladane is an enemy of Sweden, and the one who harms it the most. We see how some actors in the Middle East are setting the agenda in Sweden by taking advantage of this. There are actors from foreign countries behind this."

The violence that followed the arson incident left 26 policemen and 14 protesters injured (Reuters)

Chinese criticism

In the latest reactions to the burning, China criticized Sweden and demanded it respect the beliefs of Muslims, and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in a statement that "freedom of expression cannot be a reason for inciting racial or cultural discrimination and tearing society apart."

"We hope that Sweden will seriously respect the religious beliefs of minorities, including Muslims," ​​the spokesman was quoted by the Chinese daily Global Times as saying.

A few days ago, Arab and Islamic countries and organizations, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and the Muslim World League, condemned the burning of copies of the Holy Quran in Swedish cities.

On the other hand, the Swedish state television "SVT" (SVT) decided to lay off one of its reporters from his job due to his criticism of the leader of the "Straamcourse" movement Rasmus Paludan.

The director of news for the southern region of the channel, Anton Svendsen, said that the investigation into the reporter's incident has ended, and that he has been dismissed.. Investigations revealed that the reporter had harmed the principle of impartiality in the channel, and that he had been dismissed because of that.

Baludan had used derogatory terms for Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on February 26 in a speech to him in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, where many Muslims live.

The SVT reporter criticized this incendiary act at the time, addressing Baloudan by saying, "Go back to your house, you idiot."

It is noteworthy that Rasmus Paludan intends to run for the Swedish legislative elections next September, but he has not yet succeeded in collecting the necessary signatures, and he is on a "tour" in Sweden during which he visits the neighborhoods inhabited by a large proportion of Muslims to burn copies of the Qur'an in them.

This lawyer, who was convicted of racist insults, previously ran for legislative elections in his country of birth in Denmark in 2019, but got barely 10,000 votes.