a man burns pages from a copy of the Koran in front of a mosque

A man burned a few pages of a copy of the Koran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque during a rally authorized by Swedish police on Wednesday (June 28th). This new incident has angered Morocco and Turkey and could darken Sweden’s prospects for NATO membership, which Ankara vetoes.

The event, which coincides with Eid al-Adha, a holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world, brought together around 100 onlookers and journalists. Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi who fled his country for Sweden, trampled on the Koran several times before slipping slices of bacon into it and burning a few pages, according to AFP journalists present on the spot. .

Turkey’s foreign minister immediately condemned the incident on Twitter. “It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression”, did he declare. Morocco, for its part, denounced an act “offensive and irresponsible” and recalled its ambassador to Sweden. Copies of the Koran had already been burned during demonstrations outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm in January and in Malmö in April.