(AFP) A Swedish appeals court on Monday said police had no legal grounds to block two gatherings where protesters had planned to burn the Koran earlier this year.
The burning of Islam’s holy book outside Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm in January sparked anger in the Muslim world, leading to weeks of protests, calls for a boycott of Swedish goods and further stalled Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
Following that incident, police refused to authorise two other requests, one by a private individual and one by an organisation, to hold Koran burnings outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm in February.
Police argued the January protest had made Sweden “a higher priority target for attacks.”
