Stockholm Quran burner allegedly assaulted by man wearing boxing gloves
UPDATED: Salwan Momika, the man behind a spate of recent Quran burnings, was allegedly assaulted on Monday, reports Aftonbladet. But a man claiming to be behind the alleged assault says the fight was staged.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that Momika was attacked in the city of Södertälje, south of Stockholm, by a man wearing boxing gloves. The incident was filmed and shared on the TikTok app.
“Come on, let’s play, you and me,” it quotes the man as saying in Arabic.
Momika reportedly used a placard to defend himself before the man walked off.
Police declined to comment on specific individuals, but confirmed that they had received a report of a suspected assault in Södertälje on Monday.
“There was some kind of argument between two people and it seems like one person took some kind of punches,” police spokesperson Per Fahlström told Aftonbladet.
But in a video on TikTok, a man claiming to be the alleged attacker says that he and Momika had agreed to fight – a claim Momika told the Expressen newspaper was a lie.
Momika, an Iraqi refugee who has said he supports the far-right Sweden Democrat party and wants to ban the Quran, is being investigated for alleged hate crimes at some of his Quran burning protests.
In recent months he has burned or desecrated copies of the Quran outside Stockholm's main mosque as well as outside the Iranian and Iraqi embassies, sparking outrage in Muslim countries in particular.
Swedish security services cited reactions to the Quran burnings as among the reasons for its decision to raise Sweden's national terror threat level from "elevated" to "high" last week.
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Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that Momika was attacked in the city of Södertälje, south of Stockholm, by a man wearing boxing gloves. The incident was filmed and shared on the TikTok app.
“Come on, let’s play, you and me,” it quotes the man as saying in Arabic.
Momika reportedly used a placard to defend himself before the man walked off.
Police declined to comment on specific individuals, but confirmed that they had received a report of a suspected assault in Södertälje on Monday.
“There was some kind of argument between two people and it seems like one person took some kind of punches,” police spokesperson Per Fahlström told Aftonbladet.
But in a video on TikTok, a man claiming to be the alleged attacker says that he and Momika had agreed to fight – a claim Momika told the Expressen newspaper was a lie.
Momika, an Iraqi refugee who has said he supports the far-right Sweden Democrat party and wants to ban the Quran, is being investigated for alleged hate crimes at some of his Quran burning protests.
In recent months he has burned or desecrated copies of the Quran outside Stockholm's main mosque as well as outside the Iranian and Iraqi embassies, sparking outrage in Muslim countries in particular.
Swedish security services cited reactions to the Quran burnings as among the reasons for its decision to raise Sweden's national terror threat level from "elevated" to "high" last week.
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