LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – No fewer than three requests to burn religious texts, including a Torah book, have been submitted to Police in Sweden by self-described free-speech advocates.
This is coming a week after the burning of a Koran outside the main mosque in the city that sparked a backlash across the Islamic world.
Daily Mail reports that the Police force confirmed to Sweden’s National Public Broadcaster that it had received an application from a man in his 30s to burn Jewish and Christian holy books outside the embassy on 15 July as “a symbolic gathering for the sake of freedom of speech.”
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Another request, to burn a Koran “as soon as possible” in Stockholm, was submitted by a woman in her 50s.
Two previous petitions to set the Muslim holy book ablaze had earlier been approved by the Police, triggering international condemnation.
“I am shocked and horrified by the prospect of the burning of more books in Sweden, be it the Koran, the Torah or any other holy book,” Israel’s Ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman tweeted. “This is clearly an act of hatred that must be stopped,” he added.
He noted that although these were isolated events, the burning of the Quran, first in front of the Turkish embassy and then outside the central city mosque, has already hurt Sweden in the international arena.