A woman, who interrupted the Quran-burning protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Sweden’s capital city Stockholm, was detained by the police on Friday (August 18).
The woman sprayed an anti-Islam activist with a fire extinguisher as he staged a Quran-burning protest.
A video of the incident showed the woman running to Salwan Momika and spraying white powder towards him. She was then intercepted by plainclothes police officers who led her away.
Momika appeared stunned, but unhurt, and resumed his police-authorised demonstration.
“The woman, who was not identified by police, was detained on suspicion of disturbing public order and violence against a police officer,” Police spokeswoman Towe Hägg said.
Momika, who is a refugee from Iraq, has desecrated the Quran in a series of anti-Islam protests that have triggered opposition and anger in various Muslim countries.
The Swedish Police has permitted him to carry out his demonstrations citing freedom of speech, while also filing preliminary hate speech charges against him.
It is now being investigated by the prosecutors if his actions are permissible under Sweden’s hate speech law, which debars incitement of hatred against groups or individuals based on race, religion or sexual orientation.
However, Momika said that his protests target Islam as a religion and not the Muslim people.
The burnings of Muslim holy book Quran have sparked sharp and angry protests in Muslim nations including attacks on Swedish diplomatic missions and threats from Islamic extremists.
Sweden on Thursday elevated its terror alert to the second-highest level, stating that the country had become a priority target for terrorist groups.
(With AP inputs)
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