Updated: August 29, 2020 6:58:38 pm
Smoke waves from burning tires and vanes and fireworks as hundreds of protesters riot in the Rosengard neighborhood of Malmo, Sweden, on Friday, August 28, 2020. Far-right activists burned a Koran in the city of Malmo, in southern Sweden, sparking riots and riots after more than 300 people gathered to protest, police said on Saturday. (TT news agency via AP)
On Friday, a riot broke out in the Swedish city of Malmo, where some 300 people had gathered to protest anti-Islamic activities, Reuters reported. According to the news report, right-wing extremists had set fire to a copy of the Koran, increasing violence in the city that local police had found difficult to control.
AFP reported that Rasmus Paludan, a far-right Danish politician who leads the anti-immigration Hard Line party, also called Stram Kurs, was due to speak at the rally where a copy of the Koran was being burned. However, the Swedish authorities blocked their arrival in Malmo, leading to further violence between the opposing groups.
What is Stram Kurs?
This far-right Danish political party is relatively new. It was founded in 2017 by Rasmus Paludan and is known for its openly anti-Islamic stance. Much of the party’s agenda is focused on building an anti-Islam narrative and engaging in acts that are provocative and offensive towards Islam and Muslims. The party uses social media platforms and public gatherings to promote its agenda.
In addition to having hard-line views on ethnicity, immigration and citizenship, the Stram Kurs also seeks the ban of Islam and, in particular, highlights Muslims in Denmark. It is not known how many members the party has, but it tried to run in the 2019 Danish general elections, garnering only a handful of votes. In the summer of 2019, the party had managed to obtain the 20,000 voter signatures it had required to contest the parliamentary elections.
In March 2020, Stram Kurs was found guilty of misuse of the Danish declaration of vote system and the temporary suspension that had been imposed on it in December 2019 was extended until September 2022. To avoid this suspension, the party he renamed himself ‘Hardline’. The Danish government agencies did not consider the creation of this new entity illegal and it was allowed to operate.
Who is Rasmus Paludan?
Paludan is a former lawyer and politician, known for his anti-immigration, anti-Muslim and racist stance. In April 2019, he was convicted of making racist statements, an order that he tried to appeal but was rejected. In June 2020, he was served a three-month suspended sentence in a case involving 14 different charges, of which he was found guilty of all of them.
According to local Danish news reports, among the various charges, Paludan had again been convicted of making racist remarks and included an incident in which he ran over a man using a vehicle. The court prohibited him from working as a lawyer for three years and was also prohibited from using his driving license for one year.
Paludan once threw a book in a public square in Copenhagen, claiming it was the Koran, and dropped it on the ground. On other occasions, Reuters reported that Paludan wrapped a copy of the Quran in bacon and publicly burned the holy book, claiming that he was exercising his right to freedom of expression. According to a new 2019 Guardian report, Paludan’s incendiary videos on YouTube had gained a massive teenage following, a platform that had allowed him to build his fan base relatively quickly, transforming him from a dark lawyer to an extremist who he was running in the Danish general elections.
What has led to the rise of the extreme right in Europe?
For decades, Sweden and Denmark stood out as one of the few politically stable countries in the region. That has changed in recent years, especially since the migration crisis in Europe that began in 2015. Issues such as immigration, race, integration, crime, religion, social welfare and discrimination, etc., have been a the forefront of politics. discussions in these countries.
At a political rally in 2017, US President Donald Trump said: “Look what happened last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this? Sweden! They drank in large quantities. They are having problems like they never thought possible. “
Trump was referring to riots that had broken out in a Stockholm immigrant suburb that occurred after police attempted to arrest a suspect on drug charges. In the past, the country has seen outbreaks of unrest that have been linked to problems related to unemployment and the integration of immigrants. In 2015, when Sweden began to witness a sharp increase in immigration, the country also faced anti-immigration and pro-immigration demonstrations and related clashes.
A 2019 Al Jazeera news report indicated that anti-Muslim extremism has become more severe in Denmark in recent years, and far-right parties such as Paludan’s Hard Line and their rhetoric have contributed to this.
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