Anti-Turkey demo in Sweden deepens tensions over NATO bid

January 21, 2023 and   

(AFP) Turkey on Saturday cancelled a visit by the Swedish defence minister over a demonstration by an anti-Islamic extremist in Stockholm, sparking a fresh crisis as Sweden tries to convince Ankara not to block its bid to join the NATO military alliance.

Turkish officials denounced the permission granted to Rasmus Paludan, a right-wing Swedish-Danish politician, to stage a protest Saturday in front of its embassy in the Swedish capital.

After a diatribe of almost an hour in which he attacked Islam and immigration in Sweden, Paludan set fire to the Koran with a lighter.

“If you don’t think there should be freedom of expression, you have to live somewhere else,” he told the crowd.

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