Protesters at a burning barricade at the entrance to a shopping center during rioting in Norrköping, Sweden, on Sunday. Photo: Stefan Jerrevang/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images
Clashes erupted in Sweden for a fourth straight day Sunday, after a far-right group announced plans to burn the Quran at rallies.
Driving the news: At least 16 law enforcement officers have been wounded and several police vehicles destroyed in clashes between far-right demonstrators and counter-protesters since last Thursday in Stockholm and other cities where the group Stram Kurs, or Hard Line, planned to hold events, the BBC notes.
- The anti-immigrant group's leader, Danish-Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan, has said he's burned Islam's most sacred text before and would do so again at the planned rallies, per the BBC.
Context: The far-right group planned the events to take place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Details: Unrest has been reported in several cities over the Easter weekend — including Norrköping in Sweden's east, where police said Sunday three people were wounded as officers fired warning shots to try to disperse a crowd.
- In the southern town of Landskron, stone were thrown and objects set alight Saturday night, after Stram Kurs moved its demonstration to the nearby city of Malmo, AP reports.
- Twelve officers were wounded and four police vehicles set on fire in the central city of Orebro on Friday ahead of a demonstration in which Stram Kurs planned to burn a Quran, per AP.