Police in Malmo said on Monday that they were pelted with rocks and dozens of cars were set on fire, including in an underground garage, and described the events that started Sunday and lasted overnight as “a violent riot”, ABC News reported.
The clashes started after an anti-Islam activist, Salwan Momika, burned a copy of the Qur'an on Sunday and an angry person tried to stop him, police said. At least three people were detained, they said.
Early Monday, a crowd of mainly young people set fire to tires and debris and some threw electric scooters, bicycles, and barriers in Malmo's Rosengard neighborhood, which has seen similar clashes in the past. Several banners condemned the Qur'an burning.
In the past months, Momika, a refugee from Iraq, has desecrated copies of the Qur'an in a series of anti-Islam protests mostly in Stockholm. Swedish police have allowed his actions, citing freedom of speech.
The Qur'an burnings have sparked angry protests in Muslim countries, attacks on Swedish diplomatic missions, and threats from Muslims. Muslim leaders in Sweden have called on the government to find ways to stop the Qur'an burnings.
Sweden dropped its last blasphemy laws in the 1970s and the government has said it has no intention to reintroduce them.
AMK/PR
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