Two people burned a copy of the Koran in front of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm after police granted them permission to stage the event, while the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in an emergency video conference denounced the continued abuse in Sweden and Denmark.

The incident of burning the Qur'an came – on Monday – at the hands of Iraqi refugee Silwan Najm, who had previously joined his compatriot Silwan Momika in two similar moves during the last period, during which he offended the Holy Quran and burned it in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm and the Iraqi embassy.

Sweden and Denmark, which say such acts cannot be prevented because they are part of freedom of expression, are seeking to ease tensions with the Muslim world.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Bilström said today that he was in contact with several of his counterparts in OIC member states and had sent a letter to all these members.

According to a statement from Billstrom, he briefed them on the process of granting permits for public gatherings in Sweden, explaining that the police make such decisions independently.

"The Swedish government has been very clear in its rejection of the anti-Islamic acts committed by individuals during the demonstrations," he said.

For its part, the Danish government announced on Sunday that it will study legal ways to reduce the protests, which in some circumstances include the burning of copies of holy books, citing security concerns in light of the reactions to those events.

The Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the government wants to study the possibility of intervening in cases that include "insulting other countries, cultures and religions, and may have noticeable negative repercussions on Denmark, especially at the security level," pointing out that similar demonstrations are exploited by extremists and provoke division, according to the statement.

Danish Foreign Minister: There should be room for criticism of religions, but the only goal of some people is to mock other countries pic.twitter.com/iVHhrZGN4z

— Al Jazeera (@AJArabic) July 31, 2023

"The most dangerous security situation"

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christersson said his country had begun a similar procedure. He said his country was going through what he described as "the most serious security situation since World War II". "Here at home we know that states, actors and individuals may benefit from this situation," he wrote in an Instagram post.

Sweden last week ordered 15 government agencies to strengthen the country's capacity to prevent "terrorism" in the wake of the protests.

On the other hand, representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries discussed today the recurrence of incidents of insulting the Holy Quran, in an emergency ministerial meeting via video conference called by Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

During the meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan called for practical steps to address these abuses, reiterating the Kingdom's "condemnation of the repeated attacks on the sanctity of the Qur'an," describing these acts as provocative and unacceptable under any justification.

Commencement of the work of the 18th extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers with #منظمة_التعاون_الإسلامي on the desecration of copies of #المصحف_الشريف in #السويد and #الدنمارك.#٥٧دولة_ضد_تدنيس_نسخ_المصحف #المصحف_الشريف #القرآن_الكريم pic.twitter.com/QXBUThiZ69

— Organization of Islamic Cooperation (@oicarabic) July 31, 2023

In his speech, OIC Secretary-General Hussein Taha called on the Swedish and Danish authorities to "take measures at the official level to prevent the recurrence of the desecration and burning of copies of the Holy Quran".

Taha expressed disappointment that no action has been taken so far, he said.

He recommended that OIC member states take "such sovereign measures as they deem appropriate in their relations with Sweden and Denmark in order to express their rejection of the position taken by the relevant authorities of the two countries."

The repeated abuses of the Holy Quran sparked widespread anger, officially and popularly, in Arab and Muslim countries, and prompted some countries to summon ambassadors and diplomats representing Sweden and Denmark to inform them of these protests.

On July 26, the UN adopted a consensus resolution, drafted by Morocco, condemning all acts of violence against the Holy Scriptures as a violation of international law.