A man and a woman burned a copy of the Koran in Malmo, the Swedish city where the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) will be held in the next few days and 100 thousand visitors are expected. The images of the incident were broadcast live on the Tik Tok platform. Not far from the ESC entrances, a Palestinian flag was also burned.
Koran burnings in Denmark and Sweden last year led to violent reactions and sometimes protests in Muslim-majority countries, but in Sweden these incidents fall within the sphere of free speech and are legal. In Malmo, in addition to the musical events, several demonstrations on the war in Gaza, both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli, have also been announced for the next few days.
Israel’s National Security Council has just tightened the threat level for travel to the Swedish city, advising its compatriots planning to visit Malmo to reconsider their decision.
The Israeli ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, condemned the fire. “Burning the sacred book of the Koran while waving the Israeli flag – the Ambassador of Israel wrote in a post on ‘X’ – is a disgusting act of disrespect, not only towards the 20% of Israeli citizens of the Muslim faith, but also towards the values of tolerance and mutual respect. I condemn this cowardly act in the strongest terms. Malmö should be united by music next week, not by hatred!”, underlined Kulman.
