Extra Koran burnings occurred in Sweden and Denmark on Monday because the governments of the 2 Nordic international locations stated they have been analyzing methods to legally restrict such acts in a bid to de-escalate rising tensions with a number of Muslim international locations.
Denmark and Sweden have seen a number of protests in latest weeks by which copies of the Koran have been burned, or in any other case broken, prompting outrage in Muslim international locations and calls for that the Nordic governments put a cease to the burnings.
The Danish authorities stated on Sunday it could search to discover a “authorized instrument” that might allow authorities to intervene in such protests, if deemed to ivolve “important detrimental penalties for Denmark, not least with regard to safety”.
“The truth that we’re signalling each in Denmark and overseas that we’re engaged on it should hopefully assist de-escalate the issues we face,” Overseas Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen advised journalists following a gathering with overseas coverage audio system of parliament on Monday.
“It isn’t as a result of we really feel pressured to take action, however it’s our political evaluation that it’s in the most effective curiosity of all of us,” Rasmussen stated. “We shouldn’t simply sit and look ahead to this to blow up.”
Even so, Koran burnings occurred in each international locations on Monday. In Stockholm, an Iraqi refugee behind a number of protests in latest weeks appeared to burn a replica of the Koran outdoors the Swedish parliament. In Denmark, anti-Muslim protesters burned the Koran outdoors the Saudi Arabian embassy in Copenhagen.
The Nordic international locations have deplored the burnings of the Koran however can’t stop it beneath constitutional legal guidelines defending freedom of speech.
Nevertheless, each governments have now stated they’re contemplating authorized adjustments that might enable authorities to stop additional burnings in particular conditions.
The Swedish authorities stated this month it’s analyzing the same answer, however right-wing events in each international locations have denounced the initiatives, with some saying freedom of speech can’t be compromised.
Swedish Overseas Minister Tobias Billstrom stated on Monday that he had despatched letters to all 57 international locations within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to clarify Sweden’s proper to meeting and condemned Islamophobic acts.
OIC overseas ministers convened in a unprecedented session on Monday to debate the latest developments the place it strongly condemned the Koran burnings.
It additionally stated in an announcement after the assembly ended that it referred to as upon member states to take acceptable motion, whether or not political or financial, in international locations the place the Koran is being desecrated.
After the assembly, Billstrom and his Danish counterpart Rasmussen individually wrote on X, previously Twitter, that they might proceed their dialogue with the OIC.
Billstrom additionally wrote in his submit that Sweden would examine the resolutions and proposals made by the OIC rigorously.
SOURCE: REUTERS
