STOCKHOLM
\nSwedish police on Sunday arrested two people and detained around 10 people after a violent riot broke out at a protest involving a burning of the Qur\u2019an, police said.
\nThe protest organized by Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, whose protests \u2014 which have included public desecrations of the Muslim holy book \u2014 have sparked outrage across the Middle East.
\nSunday\u2019s protest was held in a square in the southern city of Malmo, which has a large immigrant population, and according to public broadcaster SVT around 200 people had showed up to watch.
\n\u201cSome onlookers have shown upset feelings, after the organizer burned writings,\u201d police said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe mood was at times heated,\u201d the statement said, adding that a \u201cviolent riot\u201d occurred at 1:45 p.m. (1145 GMT).
\nAccording to police, the event had ended after the organizer left but a group of people remained at the scene.
\nAbout 10 people were detained for disturbing the public order and another two were arrested, suspected of violent rioting.
\nLocal media reported that some onlookers threw rocks at Momika, and video from the scene showed some trying to break through the cordon before being stopped by police.
\nIn another video a man could be scene trying to stop the police car that transported Momika from the location by getting in front of it.
\nThrough a series of demonstrations, Momika has sparked anger directed at Sweden and diplomatic tensions between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries.
\nThe Swedish government has condemned the desecrations of the Qur\u2019an while noting the country\u2019s constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.
\nIraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
\nSwedish envoys have also been summoned in a slew of Middle Eastern nations.
\nIn mid-August, Sweden\u2019s intelligence agency heightened its terror alert level to four on a scale of five, noting that Sweden had \u201cgone from being considered a legitimate target for terrorist attacks to being considered a prioritized target.\u201d
\nSweden also decided to beef up border controls in early August.
\nIn late August, neighboring Denmark \u2014 which has also seen a string of public desecrations of the Qur\u2019an \u2014 said it plans to ban Qur\u2019an burnings.
\nSweden has meanwhile vowed to explore legal means of stopping protests involving the burning of texts in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STOCKHOLM Swedish police on Sunday arrested two people and detained around 10 people after a violent riot broke out at a protest involving a burning of the Qur\u2019an, police said. The protest organized by Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, whose protests \u2014 which have included public desecrations of the Muslim holy book \u2014 have sparked outrage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-353629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n