(Local) Sweden’s government on Friday launched an inquiry into changing the Public Order Act to make it possible to stop protests, such as Quran burnings, if they represent a security threat.
The inquiry comes after Sweden’s appeals court ruled in June that police had been wrong to deny permission for two Quran-burning protests in February on the grounds that they represented a broader security risk. The court ruled that the Public Order Act as it stands only empowers the police to take into account risks to public safety in the immediate area where an event is taking place.
This left police powerless to stop a succession of Quran-burning protests in June and July, which led to condemnation from Muslim countries around the world, the storming of Sweden’s embassy in Iraq, and calls from at least five militant Islamic groups for terror reprisals.
