As reported over the weekend (see links to previous posts at the bottom of this one), the Danish politician Rasmus Paludan has been on a Koran-burning tour of Sweden. Mr. Paludan has Swedish citizenship as well as Danish, and has founded a Swedish branch of the Stram Kurs (“Hard Line”) party. His Koran-burning events were part of his campaign for this year’s parliamentary elections.
The esteemed culture-enrichers of Sweden’s banlieues became somewhat peeved with Mr. Paludan’s planned events. The high-spirited youngsters took to the streets in advance of his appearances, throwing rocks and bottles at police and attacking and burning police vehicles. In the culturally enriched district of Rosengård in Malmö they even torched a municipal transit bus.
Their efforts paid off: Rasmus Paludan was prevented from appearing in most of the planned locations, and was able to burn only two Korans.
Below is an interview with Rasmus Paludan. Many thanks to LN for translating this article from Samhällsnytt:
Interview: Paludan to Wake Up Swedes — “It’s Not Childish — It’s Serious”
April 17, 2022
After the Easter weekend’s violent Koran riots, Samnytt spoke to the Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan. Paludan gives his views on the week, the conduct of the police, the government’s attack on him, and what he wants to achieve with his Koran-burnings.
On Maundy Thursday, Rasmus Paludan began his election tour for his newly formed party Stram Kurs Sweden. The politician, who is known for Islam-critical demonstrations and Koran-burnings in both Denmark and Sweden, now has his sights set on the Swedish parliamentary elections this autumn.
Before the Easter weekend, the police authority had given Paludan the go-ahead to hold rallies in Jönköping, Linköping, Norrköping, Stockholm, Örebro and Landskrona.
Before Paludan even arrived in the immigrant-dense area of Skäggetorp in Linköping, masked gangs had begun rioting, and the leadership of the police in Östergötland took the decision to flee the scene as their presence was alleged to cause further violence. But the police tactics have not helped, and since then war-like scenes have unfolded in several places, resulting in both injured police officers and burnt police cars.
In Örebro and Landskrona, with only an hour to go, police decided to change the location of the demonstration to keep violent counter-demonstrators away.
How do you feel about the police changing your demonstration locations at the last minute?
It’s not legal. It is a constitutional violation, because this is not only a public gathering but also part of the parliamentary elections. Other parties are allowed to hold rallies wherever they want, and so should I. It is sabotage because voters should be able to come and listen.
I will complain; the police must understand that it is their duty to protect a public gathering where it is and where it should be. You can’t just move it to get away from people who are trying to destroy it. Then we don’t have freedom of assembly in Sweden. To move it so shortly before is to surrender: “We policemen can’t do our duty to protect it, so we have to move it to the forest.”
How do you think the police should work instead?
If they don’t have enough people, then it’s tear gas. If they have enough people then it’s run forward, crack down and arrest.
You were never allowed to hold your meetings in Linköping, Norrköping and Örebro because of the violence. What are you going to do about it?
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The U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. was briefly evacuated today after an aircraft was sighted that posed a “probable threat”. However, it turned out that the dangerous plane was carrying members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights, who then parachuted into Nationals Park prior to the start of a baseball game. No congressbeings were injured during the alarming incident.
