A crowd gathered outside Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm on Saturday afternoon to watch far-right politician Rasmus Paludan burn the Quran. Paludan, who leads the anti-Islam ‘Hard Line’ Danish party, was watched by dozens of photographers, police officers and bemused passers-by. Paludan is no stranger to controversy: he has previously been convicted under racism and defamation law. This latest stunt was called to show his party’s opposition to immigration and, he says, to stand up for free speech. Now, though, the stunt has become a diplomatic crisis for Sweden – and there are fears that its bid to join Nato could go up in smoke.
Sweden is in the middle of trying to end its historic policy of neutrality and join the military alliance, along with its neighbour Finland. While the US, UK and want the two Nordic democracies to be part of Nato, Turkey is holding out its support, and has repeatedly threatened to veto both countries’ applications.
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