Fiery Political Activism? Swede Burns NATO Charter

A demonstration to burn the NATO charter in Helsingborg, southern Sweden, passed without incident on Wednesday. Police were present in large numbers, but stayed away because there were no illegal actions, Swedish media reported.

The organizer of the protest, 29-year-old Lucas Ljungkvist, initially applied for a "demonstration with the burning of sacred texts". However, he later apologized to those who had been offended and said that instead of the Quran, he would burn the NATO charter.

The Swedish activist wanted to set NATO's charter ablaze to protest against Sweden's entry bid to the US-led military bloc. Previously, this activist had considered a similar action involving the Quran, according to the Nordic nation's media.

The demonstration was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, July 12 at Stortorget Square in Helsingborg, according to reports.

"Lucas, 29, who had applied for permission to burn the Quran, changed his mind after NATO's statement... He now intends to express his discontent by burning the NATO Charter instead," the statement revealed.

Earlier in the day, Matthias Sigfridsson, the police chief of the northwestern Swedish county of Skane, announced that law enforcement officials had granted permission for a demonstration involving the "burning of a religious text."

It should be noted that the police allowed the "Islamic League" organization, which is in charge of the mosque in the square, to carry out the action on July 9.

It was reported that the Saudi Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador in response to the Quran burning incident in Stockholm. The diplomatic mission informed the Swedish embassy of its strong condemnation of the incident.

Earlier, the Swedish authorities had authorized a protest involving the burning of a Quran near Stockholm's main mosque. The incident was timed to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.