STOCKHOLM
\nCounter-protesters demonstrating against a far-right group\u2019s intention to burn a Holy Koran copy in Orebro in central Sweden clashed with police on Friday, leaving nine police officers injured, authorities said.
\nPolice said in a statement that nine officers were injured in all.
\nTheir injuries included \u201cbroken arms and police officers who have been hit by stones,\u201d police spokesperson Diana Qudhaib told the daily Aftonbladet.
\nA member of the public was also hit by a stone to the head.
\nThe demonstration, involving around 200 people, according to local media, dispersed later in the evening.
\nIt was the second day running that there had been clashes on the fringes of a rally by the anti-immigration and anti-Islamic Stram Kurs (Hard Line) movement led by Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan.
\nThree police officers had to be taken to hospital after a riot broke out in the city of Linkoping on Sweden\u2019s east coast on Thursday, where a demonstration that included a Koran burning was planned. Two people were arrested at that protest.
\nReacting to the violence, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said; \u201cIn Sweden, people are allowed to express their opinions, whether they are in good or bad taste, that is part of our democracy. No matter what you think, you must never resort to violence. We will never accept it.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is exactly the kind of violent reaction he (Rasmus Paludan) wants to see. The very purpose is to incite people against each other,\u201d she added in comments to the TT news agency.
\nPaludan has regularly been at the centre of incidents in recent years.
\nIn November 2020, he was arrested in France and deported.
\nFive other activists were arrested in Belgium shortly afterwards, accused of wanting to \u201cspread hatred\u201d by burning a Koran in Brussels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STOCKHOLM Counter-protesters demonstrating against a far-right group\u2019s intention to burn a Holy Koran copy in Orebro in central Sweden clashed with police on Friday, leaving nine police officers injured, authorities said. Police said in a statement that nine officers were injured in all. Their injuries included \u201cbroken arms and police officers who have been hit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-255482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n