Protesters desecrate Holy Quran at Stockholm mosque on Eid holiday

A man tore up and burned a copy of Holy Quran outside Stockholm's central mosque on Wednesday, an event that risks angering Turkey as Sweden bids to join NATO, after Swedish police granted permission for the protest to take place.

Police later charged the man with agitation against an ethnic or national group.

A series of demonstrations in Sweden against Islam and for Kurdish rights have offended Ankara, whose backing Sweden needs to gain entry to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Sweden sought NATO membership in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. But alliance member Turkey has held up the process, accusing Sweden of harbouring people it considers terrorists and demanding their extradition.

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan condemned the act in a tweet, adding that it was unacceptable to allow anti-Islam protests in the name of freedom of expression.

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Some 200 onlookers witnessed one of the two organisers tearing up pages of a copy of the Holy Quran and wiping his shoes with it before putting bacon in it and setting the book on fire, whilst the other protester spoke into a megaphone.

Some of those present shouted 'God is great' in Arabic to protest against the desecration, and one man was detained by police after he attempted to throw a rock.

A supporter of the demonstration shouted "let it burn" as the holy book caught on fire.

Police charged the man who set fire to the Holy Quran with agitation against an ethnic or national group and with a violation of a ban on fires that has been in place in Stockholm since mid-June.

While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Holy Quran demonstrations, courts have overruled those decisions, saying they infringed on freedom of speech.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a press conference on Wednesday he would not speculate about how the protest could affect Sweden's NATO process.

"It's legal but not appropriate," he said, adding that it was up to the police to make decisions on Holy Quran burnings.

One of the two people who took part is Salwan Momika, who in a recent newspaper interview described himself as an Iraqi refugee seeking to ban the Holy Quran.

Representatives of the mosque were disappointed by the police decision to grant permission for the protest on the Muslim holiday of Eidul Azha, mosque director and Imam Mahmoud Khalfi said on Wednesday.

"The mosque suggested to the police to at least divert the demonstration to another location, which is possible by law, but they chose not to do so," Khalfi said in a statement.

Up to 10,000 visitors attend Stockholm's mosque for the Eid celebrations every year, according to Khalfi.

Turkey in late January suspended talks with Sweden on its NATO application after a Danish far-right politician desecrated a copy of the Holy Quran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.