Elham Asaad Buaras
The far-right politician Rasmus Paludan, whose Qur’an burning stunts cost Swedish taxpayers 88 million krona (£6.8 million) in police protection, was barred from entering the UK earlier this month, after threatening to burn a copy of the Qur’an during a visit to Wakefield, Yorkshire.
Paludan, the founder of the Danish anti-Islam Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Party, has held several previous protests in Sweden, in which the Qur’an was burned, with some leading to violent counter-demonstrations.
Paludan set fire to the Qur’an in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm in January, surrounded and protected by police. UK Security Minister, Tom Tugendhat, said Paludan had been added to the country’s immigration watch list.
The security minister told the House of Commons about his intervention after Simon Lightwood, the Labour MP for Wakefield, raised concerns on March 20 about Paludan’s potential visit.
Lightwood said, “Far-right Islamophobic Danish politician Rasmus Paludan said he is going to travel from Denmark to Wakefield for the sole purpose of burning a Quran in a public place.
“Mr Paludan was previously jailed in Denmark for his hateful and racist statements. He is a dangerous man that should not be allowed into this country.
“Can the home secretary assure me and my community that the government is taking action to prevent this?”
Tugendhat said Paludan had been added to the UK’s warnings index.
He added, “His travel to the UK would not be conducive with the public good and he will not be allowed access.”
Many Muslim countries, as well as various NGOs and human rights groups, have since condemned the act.
During Ramadan last year, Paludan declared he would embark on a Qur’an burning tour, and began setting fire to the holy book in areas with a Muslim majority.
Paludan was convicted and imprisoned for a month earlier in 2020 for posting anti-Islam videos on his party’s social media channels.
Paludan received a suspended prison sentence for racism in 2019, which the court heard influenced the latest verdict. He faced 14 charges, including racism, defamation, and reckless driving.
Paludan was sentenced to a one-year driving ban as well as a three-year criminal law bar suspension. Stram Kurs received 1.8 percent of the vote in the 2019 national elections, falling just short of the 2% required to enter parliament.
It ran on a platform of outlawing Islam and expelling all Muslims from Denmark. The Qur’an has been burned during Paludan’s demonstrations in places with ethnic minority populations.
Meanwhile, some 51 per cent of Swedes support a ban on the burning of the Qur’an and other holy scriptures, a survey revealed on April 1.
While 34 per cent say burning Holy Scriptures is freedom of speech and expression, 15 per cent did not comment, according to the poll by major research company Sipo.
The survey was conducted on March 14-16, with 1,370 participants.
(Photo credit: News Oresund/Flickr Commons)
