Sweden rejects Qur’an burning ahead of NATO membership bid

Far-right groups were planning for a protest, including Quran burning, on Thursday but Swedish authorities blocked the event.

According to Deutsche Welle, the decision came as authorities believed such a measure could damage Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

A leader of Stram Kurs political party from Denmark, Rasmus Paludan, burned the Muslim holy book in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 21. The Quran burning was initiated when Paludan demonstrated before the Turkish Embassy HQ in Sweden regarding the NATO membership of the Nordic country.

Sweden and neighboring Finland are seeking to join the military alliance amid the war in Ukraine, in a historic departure from their non-aligned policies.

However, their accession would require approval from all NATO members, and Turkey has indicated it will block Sweden’s bid – in part due to Paludan’s initial stunt.

Even before that, Ankara was pressing the two countries to crack down on Kurdish armed groups, activists and other groups it considers “terrorists”.

Meanwhile, the insult to the Quran has been widely condemned by Muslim countries across the world amid global demand from the Swedish government to prevent similar incidents.