In front of Stockholm’s largest mosque, Salwan Momika, 37, burns several pages of the Quran while under a heavy police presence on Wednesday.
A permit had been granted for the protest in accordance with free speech protections, but police later announced they were investigating the man over “agitation.”
As Muslims around the world marked Eid al-Adha and the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia came to an end, the incident occurred.
Swedish authorities granted a permit to burn the Quran to an “extremist” group. Iraq condemned the decision.
An Iraqi living in Sweden burned the Quran on Thursday, prompting condemnation from Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern nations, warning such acts “inflame” Muslims worldwide.
Approximately 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims completed the hajj in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, and the country also condemned the burning of the Quran.
Anwar Gargash, the president’s adviser for the UAE, wrote on Twitter that the West needs to understand that its values cannot be forced on the world.
As Kuwait noted, such “hostile acts” must be prosecuted and the principle of freedom must not be used to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith.
The Moroccan ambassador to Stockholm was also recalled for his part in the Quran burning, which was also condemned by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.
Muslim world outrage followed the burning of a copy of the Quran by a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist in January.
