Denmark joins Sweden in tightening border controls amid warnings of a ‘heightened threat’ of terror attacks in Nordic countries after Koran burning stunts that enraged the Muslim world

• Sweden’s PM said it was ‘the most serious security situation since World War II’

Danish police are tightening border controls following recent burnings of the Koran, following a similar decision by Sweden earlier in the week.

The controls will initially be in place until August 10, the Danish ministry said, following an assessment by Sweden’s domestic security service that protests over the last few weeks had put the country at a ‘heightened terror threat’.

Anti-Islam activists in Denmark and Sweden have burned and damaged several copies of the Muslim holy book in recent months, inciting outrage in the Muslim world and demands that governments ban such acts. 

Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard was forced to admit: ‘The recent Koran burnings have, as the security police have said, affected the current security situation.’ 

Koran burning events in recent months have sparked large protests around the Muslim world, with flags burned and large marches organised from Turkey to Pakistan.

Protestor Salwan Momika outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 20, 2023, one of several demonstrations prompting Sweden’s security service to up its terror threat

Men from the far-right Danish group Danske Patrioter ‘Danish Patriots’ hold a banner reading a message against Islam outside the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Copenhagen, 24 July

Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Loekke Rasmussen addresses journalists after a briefing on the international reactions to the Koran burnings in Copenhagen on July 31, 2023

At the end of July, Denmark sought new legal ways to limit Koran burnings, citing security concerns.

READ MORE: Activist burns the Koran outside Swedish parliament despite warnings country is facing ‘heightened threat’ of terror attacks following similar stunts that enraged the Muslim world 

The government said it would seek to find a ‘legal tool’ that could enable authorities to intervene in such protests, if deemed to entail ‘significant negative consequences for Denmark, not least with regard to security’. 

Now, according to the Ministry, they will also ‘increase the focus on who is entering Denmark, in order to respond to the specific and current threats.’ 

With book-burning events becoming more regular in Sweden and Denmark, officials have looked to find a way resolve spiralling tensions.

But Right-wing parties in both Sweden and Denmark have denounced the initiatives, some saying freedom of speech cannot be compromised. 

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on 31 July that he hoped the government’s proposal to limit Koran burnings would help de-escalate the situation.

Protests against Islam have strained diplomatic relations between the Scandinavian countries and the Muslim world, despite general condemnation from their governments.

Most recently, Sweden came under fire after police granted a permit for a protest that saw the desecration of a Koran outside parliament in Stockholm on 31 July. 

Salwan Momika and Salwan Najem kicked and stomped on the book before setting it on fire, as they had done at a protest outside Stockholm’s main mosque in late June

There is no law in Denmark or Sweden specifically prohibiting the burning or desecration of the Koran or other religious texts.

 Iranians burn Sweden’s flag during an anti-Sweden rally after the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, Iran, 27 January 2023. Iran harshly condemned the burning of the Koran in Sweden by the Leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs, Rasmus Paludan on 21 January

Yemenis participate in a protest denouncing the burning of Islam’s holy book, the Koan, in Sweden and Denmark, on July 24, 2023 in Sana’a, Yemen

‘It’s a serious situation that we’re in,’ Susanna Trehorning, SAPO’s deputy head of counter-terrorism, told Swedish public broadcaster SVT.

‘It’s a heightened threat and an attack can occur within the framework of a heightened threat.’

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was forced to admit his country was in ‘the most serious security situation since World War II’.

Muslims view the Koran as the literal word of God and actual or alleged desecration of the holy book often sparks protests in the Muslim world.

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