Clashes erupt in Sweden’s third largest city after another Quran burning

Clashes erupted in an immigrant neighbourhood in Sweden’s third largest city after an anti-Muslim protester set fire to the Quran, police said on September 4.

Police in Malmo said they were pelted with rocks and dozens of cars were set on fire, including in an underground garage, describing the events that started on September 3 and lasted overnight as “a violent riot,” Associated Press reports.

The clashes started after an anti-Islam activist Salwan Momika on September 3 burned a copy of the Quran and an angry mob tried to stop him while police, some of them helmeted, detained several people. At least three people have been detained, police said.

Early on September 4, an angry crowd of mainly young people also set fire to tires and debris and some were seen throwing electric scooters, bicycles and barriers in Malmo’s Rosengard neighbourhood, which has seen similar clashes in the past. There were several banners relating to the Quran burning.