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It’s an interesting take on it

The Observer:

Riots rock Malmö after far-right Swedish activists burn Qur’an

You sorta get the impression that it’s the rightists rioting, right?

The disorderly phalanx of young men and teenagers, many wearing face masks and hooded tops, started to accelerate, excitement rising, as it neared the row of police vans blocking off the troubled district of Rosengård in Malmö.

“We’re gonna fuck this system up because they want to let a man burn the Qur’an,” one of them yelled, as the group starts hurling jagged chunks of concrete paving towards the armoured riot police sheltering behind the vans. “And we’re gonna fuck the police.”

More than 300 rioters threw stones at police and burned tyres in the southern Swedish city on Friday night after a video circulated of followers of the far-right Danish politician Rasmus Paludan burning a copy of the Qur’an near one of the city’s mosques.

Crowds of young men wielded bars taken from street signs and metal barriers, and threw stones and fireworks after smashing up bus shelters. Further up the road, cars, tyres, pallets and rubbish bins were set ablaze.

Err, no. This was the young Muslims having a go at the police.

Amar Mohsen, an 18-year-old whose mother is Russian and whose father is Iraqi, said politicians in the city should have done more to condemn the plans to burn the Qur’an. “The politicians in Sweden say: ‘It’s a human right. Do what you want. You live in a free country. You can burn a Qur’an in front of a mosque’. It’s not like that. It will affect many people and I think we will be more divided.”

Discuss.

I tend to think the American Supreme Court got this right. Sure, burning the flag pisses off a lot of people. You’ve still the right – right – to do it though.

15 thoughts on “It’s an interesting take on it”

  1. moslems rioting is SOP.

    And “burning the koran is permissible if done in a respectful way”.
    I think Rasmus Paludan above has given it the respect it deserves.

  2. allthegoodnamesaretaken

    If he wants peace and prosperity, Amer could choose between Russia and Iraq, no, er wait…

  3. I can burn an American flag in safety (well, not me, I mean, but somebody could) because I’m fairly certain that the people who would be most incensed at that also buy in to the principles espoused in our USA Constitution. They’ll be PO’ed, but they’ll accept that what I’ve done is, make a statement.

    But when you burn a koran, you’re pissing off people with no inner regulator. You’re poking the rabid weasel.

    Sure, they’re both speech, but you’d better be aware of what you’re doing.

  4. Actually, I assumed that the rioters were Moslems objecting to the burning of their book.
    Routine reaction, you see. Reasoned debate and acceptance of diversity of opinion doesn’t come into it.

  5. So Much For Subtlety

    I tend to think the American Supreme Court got this right. Sure, burning the flag pisses off a lot of people. You’ve still the right – right – to do it though.

    The US Supreme Court may have got it right. But that is beside the point. This is not about freedom of speech. That pass was sold a long time ago.

    This is about who is going to rule. Those Muslim Yoof insist they are in charge and we must defer to them. Unfortunately our ruling class agrees and Islam is more or less the de facto state religion in much of Europe and cannot be criticised. The European Courts have even said that pointing out an obvious truth like Muhammed was a paedophile is a crime, British Courts have distinguished between views unworthy of respect (that is, anything a normal person believes) and those that are worthy of respect.

    The question is whether Europe will continue to exist. We need a country of our own. Without these minorities.

  6. I think Rasmus Paludan above has given it the respect it deserves.

    Wiping his arse on the pages would be giving it more respect than it deserves.

  7. This is about who is going to rule.

    Yup. Antifa et al are fighting for the caliphate, but they’re too thick to realize it.

  8. There’s a practical matter of policing though. If you burn a Koran – or a flag – and hundreds of angry people attack you, you’ll need a lot of police to defend you.

    In short, your right to free speech is limited by the depth of feeling on the other side.

  9. Freedom of speech means you generally won’t be prosecuted by the government, but there can certainly be other consequences. Burning a Koran or a flag might get you thumped. The thumpers might be prosecuted for the thumping, and you probably won’t be prosecuted for the burning, but you’ll be in hospital for awhile.

    As a young man Abraham Lincoln, who had a way with words, found himself challenged to a duel for something he wrote about his challenger. They met on the field, and apparently Lincoln was able to sufficiently apologize to the satisfaction of his challenger so they did not fight (in fact, decades later Lincoln appointed him a general during the Civil War(, but Lincoln supposedly was more circumspect thereafter.

  10. You’ve still the right – right – to do it though.

    As Sweden is showing – its not the government that *let’s* you do something that gets you that right – its the willingness to shoot a motherfucker in the face when he tries to stop you (government agent or ‘vibrantly diverse’ neighbor).

  11. So Much For Subtlety

    Andrew M August 30, 2020 at 11:44 am – “In short, your right to free speech is limited by the depth of feeling on the other side.”

    So whoever has the best street thugs wins.

  12. Malmo – lived there in mid 90s and a safe place day & night with a Swede & Iranian market near bus station most days. Nice parks & beaches too. Shops, banks etc OK, but many like 70s and ‘customer service’ non existent unless Anglo-American. Eateries much better service as competing with Int Franchises

    Way things have gone, doubt I will ever be back. All but one couple I knew there has left; Lund friends mostly moved away too.

    Illegal RoP immigrants flee shithole and demand asylum, then recreate shithole – and we’re helping them cross channel to UK

    Merkel sowed destruction across Europe, rather like…

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