STOCKHOLM: A Swedish appeals court on Monday said police had no legal grounds to block two gatherings where protesters had planned to burn the Qur'an earlier this year.
The burning of Islam’s holy book outside Turkiye’s embassy in Stockholm in January sparked anger in the Muslim world, leading to weeks of protests, calls for a boycott of Swedish goods and further stalled Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
Following that incident, police refused to authorize two other requests, one by a private individual and one by an organization, to hold Qur'an burnings outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm in February.
Police argued the January protest had made Sweden “a higher priority target for attacks.”
Following appeals from both protest organizers, the Stockholm Administrative Court overturned the decisions, saying the cited security concerns were not enough to limit the right to demonstrate.
But Stockholm police in turn appealed the rulings to the appeals court, which on Monday sided with the lower administrative court.
In both rulings — on the two separate applications — the appeals court said “the order and security problems” referenced by the police did not have “a sufficiently clear connection to the planned event or its immediate vicinity.”
It added that the ruling could be appealed to Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court.
Swedish police had authorized the January protest organized by Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish-Danish activist who has already been convicted for racist abuse.
Paludan also provoked rioting in Sweden last year when he went on a tour of the country and publicly burned copies of Islam’s holy book.
The January Qur'an burning also damaged Sweden’s relations with Turkiye, which took particular offense that police had authorized the demonstration.
Ankara has blocked Sweden’s NATO bid because of what it perceives as Stockholm’s failure to crack down on Kurdish groups it views as “terrorists.”
“It is clear that those who caused such a disgrace in front of our country’s embassy can no longer expect any benevolence from us regarding their application for NATO membership,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in January.
Swedish politicians have criticized the Qur'an burning, but have also adamantly defended the right to freedom of expression.
Sweden court upholds rejection of Qur'an burning ban
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Sweden court upholds rejection of Qur'an burning ban
- The burning of Islam's holy book outside Turkey's embassy in Stockholm in January sparked anger in the Muslim world
- Police argued the January protest had made Sweden "a higher priority target for attacks"
Turkiye’s Erdogan says backs air, sea truce in Ukraine war
- Turkish leader: ‘Our efforts to reach an agreement that will guarantee the safety of navigation in the Black Sea align with this approach’
- NATO member Turkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbors since the Russian invasion three years ago
“We support the idea of establishing a ceasefire as soon as possible and stopping attacks in the air and at sea as a confidence-building measure between the parties,” Erdogan told an online meeting organized by the EU.
“Our efforts to reach an agreement that will guarantee the safety of navigation in the Black Sea align with this approach,” he said.
His statement came shortly after the Ukrainian president repeated his demand for “silence in the skies... and also silence at sea,” on X following a “massive” Russian attack on the country’s energy grid overnight.
And on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said London and Paris were proposing a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure.”
Erdogan, whose country has twice hosted Ukraine-Russia talks at the start of the war, also said both sides must be seated at the table for any peace negotiations to work.
“Today, we draw attention to the importance of a solid diplomatic ground where both warring parties will be at the table for a just, lasting and honorable peace,” he said.
NATO member Turkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbors since the Russian invasion three years ago and has twice hosted direct talks aimed at ending the war.
Bangladesh police use tear gas to disperse Islamist march in Dhaka
- Police were unable to control the crowd and had to use tear gas and sound grenades to disperse them
- The Dhaka Metropolitan Police had warned banned organizations against holding public meetings and rallies
DHAKA: Police in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka used tear gas and sound grenades on Friday to disperse hundreds of members of the banned militant group Hizb-ut-Tahrir seeking to march to demand the country’s secular democracy be replaced by an Islamic caliphate.
Hundreds of activists chanting “Khilafat, Khilafat” gathered for the ‘March for Khilafat’ procession at the Baitul Mukarram Mosque after Friday prayers, defying police barricades.
Police were unable to control the crowd and had to use tear gas and sound grenades to disperse them, witnesses said. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police had warned banned organizations on Thursday against holding public meetings and rallies.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir, banned in Bangladesh since October 2009 for posing a threat to national security, has frequently organized protests and marches in defiance of a government ban on public gatherings.
The London-based Hizb-ut-Tahrir seeks to unite Muslims in a pan-Islamic state but says its means are peaceful.
The Muslim-majority country of 170 million people is one of the world’s largest and poorest democracies.
It has been grappling with political unrest since an interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, took over following protests that drove then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of the country.
Kumbh Mela: Massive clean up after India’s Hindu mega-festival ends
- Massive sanitation drive has been underway since the six-week gala drew to a close last week in the northern city of Prayagraj
- The Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, staged every 12 years
PRAYAGRAJ, India: Thousands of sanitation workers were toiling on Friday to clean up 20,000 tons of waste left behind by hundreds of millions of Hindu devotees after India’s Kumbh Mela mega-festival.
The massive sanitation drive has been underway since the six-week gala drew to a close last week in the northern city of Prayagraj.
Hundreds of millions of people visited the city during the festival according to government figures, with mounds of discarded clothing, plastic bottles and other waste now littering the grounds.
“We have deployed 15,000 workers to clear up some 20,000 tons of waste generated from the festival,” Prayagraj municipal commissioner Chandra Mohan Garg said.
The Kumbh Mela is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, staged every 12 years at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
It is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.
Workers were also busy dismantling a temporary infrastructure, that includes 150,000 portable toilets.
In several places, open areas were used as makeshift toilets, posing a challenge to the army of sanitary staff.
“The dedication toward cleanliness... will continue to inspire efforts to keep Prayagraj, and its sacred rivers, clean for generations to come,” the government said in a statement this week.
The Kumbh Mela was also a testament to the “collective spirit of maintaining a cleaner and more sustainable environment,” it added.
Kremlin: Russia may need to act to respond to EU ‘militarization’ plans to ensure its own security
- ‘We see that the European Union is now actively discussing the militarization of the EU and the development of the defense segment’
- ‘This is a process that we are watching closely, because the EU is positioning Russia as its main adversary’
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia may need to act to respond to what it called European Union plans to militarize the bloc that cast Russia as its main adversary.
European leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend more on defense and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump’s reversal of US policies.
“We see that the European Union is now actively discussing the militarization of the EU and the development of the defense segment. This is a process that we are watching closely, because the EU is positioning Russia as its main adversary,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“This, of course, could potentially be a topic of deep concern for us and there could be a need to take appropriate measures in response to ensure our security.
“And, of course, such confrontational rhetoric and confrontational thinking that we are now seeing in Brussels and in European capitals is, seriously at odds with the mood for finding a peaceful settlement around Ukraine.”
Zelensky to visit South Africa on April 10: presidency
- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week invited Volodymyr Zelensky on a state visit
- Zelensky thanked Ramaphosa for supporting ‘Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’
JOHANNESBURG: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit South Africa next month, the African country’s presidency announced Friday.
“President Zelensky will be visiting South Africa on the 10th of April,” presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya said.
The visit “is a continuation of ongoing engagements” on “an inclusive peace process” between Russia and Ukraine, he said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week invited Zelensky on a state visit, after heavy criticism of moves by Russia and the United States to negotiate an end to the war through a process to which neither Ukraine nor its European allies were invited.
“South Africa remains committed to supporting the dialogue process between Russia and Ukraine,” Ramaphosa said in a post on X.
The two leaders have a “constructive engagement” and agree on “the urgent need for an inclusive peace process that involves all parties,” Ramaphosa said.
Zelensky thanked Ramaphosa for supporting “Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and said he hoped for peace this year.
“It is important that our countries share the same position: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Zelensky said on X last week.
