The decision by Swedish police to ban Koran burning as a form of demonstration has caused controversy. While a slight majority of Swedes believe it should be forbidden to burn religious scriptures, opponents argue it is a constitutional issue of freedom of expression that should not be curtailed. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt supports the police’s decision, citing “significant security problems” caused by far-right Rasmus Paludan’s controversial demonstration actions. Bildt also questions whether burning a book can be seen as an expression in itself and suggests that freedom of expression has limits. The police have announced their intention to appeal the administrative court’s annulment of their decision.
The police authority’s decision to ban Koran burnings as a form of demonstration has aroused strong feelings in Sweden. On the one hand, a survey by DN/Ipsos shows, for example, that a slight majority of Swedes believe that it should be forbidden to burn religious scriptures. On the other hand, opponents of the decision claim that it is a constitutional issue of freedom of expression that should not be curtailed.
One who supports the police’s decision is Carl Bildt, Sweden’s prime minister between 1991-1994 and the former party leader of the Moderates. In an interview with SvD, he says, among other things, that far-right Rasmus Paludan’s controversial demonstration actions – something, for example, the Gothenburg police Ulf Boström wants to see him prosecuted for – led to “significant security problems.”
– I think there were strong reasons for the police’s decision. I have to say that. There is no doubt that it led to significant safety problems, says Carl Bildt, but believes that he does not have a view on whether it should be banned generally.
READ ALSO: Ulf Boström: Prosecute Rasmus Paludan for the Koran burnings
“What is an opinion?”
Carl Bildt expresses that the matter is in the hands of the courts, but that he “does not at all (would) think that it would be unreasonable if the law were interpreted as incitement against a ethnic group.” He also says that the administrative court’s annulment of the police’s decision is a “horribly narrow interpretation of the law”.
When asked whether the act falls under the freedom of expression basis, he wonders if the burning of a book can really be seen as an expression in itself.
– But whether it is an opinion, I do not know. It is also an interpretation. What is an opinion? Is burning things an expression? I very much understand freedom of expression as being able to say things.
– It is quite obvious that it is not freedom of speech to burn down a mosque. But burning a book, is it freedom of expression? Leave it to the lawyers to draw boundaries, but somewhere there is a limit to what you can burn as part of freedom of expression, reasonably, continues Carl Bildt in his interview with SvD.
On Thursday, after SvD’s interview with Carl Bildt, the police announced that they intended to appeal the verdict.
READ ALSO: The police are appealing against the Koran burning verdict
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