Two men burned a copy of the Koran in front of the Swedish parliament on Monday, the latest in a string of demonstrations in which Islam’s holy book was destroyed.

The two trampled on the Koran and then set it on fire, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

The same men have previously attracted attention with Islamophobic actions.

Earlier in July they set fire to a Koran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, which led to violent protests in several Muslim countries. In Iraq, a mob stormed the Swedish embassy and the government expelled the Swedish ambassador from the country.

During Monday’s action, the men had no visible supporters cheering them on, TT reported. However, there were about 15 counter-demonstrators.

On Sunday evening, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was in close contact with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen about the Koran burnings and they were seeking ways to legally prevent such Islamophobic acts out of concern for public safety.

A week ago, two men burned a book in front of the Iraqi embassy in Copenhagen in an action streamed live on the internet. The men said that the book was the Koran.

“We are in the most serious security situation since World War II, and we know here that both states, state-like actors and individuals can take advantage of the situation,” Kristersson wrote on Instagram.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen spoke on Monday of a “rather high and heightened picture of the terrorist threat.”

The conflict is particularly sensitive for Stockholm, as the Koran burnings were one reason why Turkey had for months blocked Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

But the bar for legal action is high. In Denmark and Sweden, freedom of assembly and demonstration are strongly protected by the constitution. This is one reason why courts in Stockholm have rejected a ban imposed by the police on the Islamophobic protests.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, based in Saudi Arabia, called a special meeting for Monday. In a phone call with Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha urged the Scandinavian country to take action to stop the desecrations.

Man Muslims understand the actions as hate crimes not covered by freedom of expression.

In Denmark, politicians are divided. Morten Messerschmidt, the leader of the right-wing populist People’s Party, stressed that the freedom of the West is based on the right to criticize and make fun of a religion.

The leader of the Conservative People’s Party, Søren Pape Poulsen, warned of further demands from Muslim states if the government gave in on the ban on Koran burnings.

“This is only the first step,” he said.

Controversy over what is seen as Islamophobic actions is not new to Denmark.

In 2005, controversial drawings by a Danish cartoonist depicted the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb as a turban. That triggered a wave of violent protests with dozens of deaths, during which Danish embassies were attacked.

The pictorial representation of Mohammed is a taboo in large parts of the Islamic world. In Denmark, where the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard was the main focus, a bitter debate about the limits of freedom of expression followed.

After the artist died in 2021, the newspaper Jyllands-Posten wrote that “Kurt Westergaard’s fight for freedom of expression must not die with him.”

Of the current controversy, Danish Parliament Speaker Søren Gade, defence minister at the time of the cartoon controversy, said Danish interests and the safety of Danes must take precedence.

“I can’t imagine that many Danes lose sleep over the thought that they are not allowed to set fire to holy writings.”

Read more: Denmark ponders law to ban burning of the Koran in front of embassies

Denmark’s foreign minister said on Sunday that the government will seek to make it illegal to desecrate the Koran or other religious holy books in front of foreign embassies in the country.

Foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in an interview with the Danish public broadcaster DR that the burning of holy scriptures “only serves the purpose of creating division in a world that actually needs unity”.

“That is why we have decided in the government that we will look at how, in very special situations, we can put an end to mockery of other countries, which is in direct conflict with Danish interests and the safety of the Danes,” he said.

A recent string of public Koran desecrations by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Denmark and neighbouring Sweden have sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries.

Mr Lokke Rasmussen said the Cabinet of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is determined to find “a legal tool” to prohibit such acts without compromising freedom of expression, but he acknowledged that would not be easy.

“There must be room for religious criticism, and we have no thoughts of reintroducing a blasphemy clause,” he told DR.

“But when you stand up in front of a foreign embassy and burn a Koran or burn the Torah scroll in front of the Israeli embassy, it serves no other purpose than to mock.”

His comments followed a statement issued late on Sunday by the Danish government saying freedom of expression is one of the most important values in Danish society.

But, it added, the desecration of the Muslim holy book in Denmark has resulted in the nation being viewed in many places around the world “as a country that facilitates insult and denigration of the cultures, religions, and traditions of other countries”.

The government repeated its condemnation of such desecrations, say they are “deeply offensive and reckless acts committed by few individuals” and “do not represent the values the Danish society is built on”.

In Sweden, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Sunday on Instagram that his government is analysing the legal situation regarding desecration of the Koran and other holy books, given the animosity such acts are stirring up against Sweden.

“We are in the most serious security policy situation since the Second World War,” Mr Kristersson said.

The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation has called an emergency remote meeting on Monday to discuss the Koran burnings in Sweden and Denmark.

Read more: Koran burnt in demonstration outside Stockholm mosque

Two men in Sweden took part in a demonstration that involved burning a Koran outside a mosque in the centre of the capital Stockholm on Wednesday.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a press conference that the action – taking place on the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha – was permitted, but not appropriate.

Footage from Swedish broadcaster SVT showed a man setting fire to a copy of Islam’s holy scripture behind police cordon tape. Apparently, only one other man took part in the demonstration. Dozens of people gathered behind the cordons, some shouting angry words.

According to the media reports, the public demonstration remained calm. One person who was holding a stone was led away from the site, according to the report.

The Stockholm police had previously given the green light for the small protest. According to the application, seen by the dpa, only two people were expected to attend the demonstration.

Swedish authorities authorized the protest because Swedish courts had ruled that police did not have the right to refuse permission for Koran burnings.

In February, the police refused the request of two organizers to conduct Koran burnings in Stockholm for security reasons.

Islamophobic protests have caused considerable trouble between Sweden and Turkey in recent months.

It is unclear if Wednesday’s Koran burning will cause new problems for Swedish-Turkish relations.

This incident could pose a serious problem for Sweden’s NATO membership application, which they submitted more than a year ago. It is still blocked by Turkey and Hungary. New members must be approved unanimously by all existing NATO members.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Sweden of not taking action against “terrorist organizations,” an apparent reference to mostly Kurdish political groups from Turkey that operate in exile in the country such as the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).

Sweden has recently tightened its terrorism laws and the country’s supreme court approved the first extradition to Turkey of an alleged PKK supporter.

Read more on Sweden: How the far right are trying to deter refugees from entering Sweden

A truck drove into a crowd on a shopping street and crashed into a department store in central Stockholm on Friday, killing three people and wounding eight in what the prime minister said appeared to be a terrorist attack.

Part of central Stockholm was cordoned off and the area was evacuated, including the main train station. All subway traffic was halted on orders from the police.

“Sweden has been attacked. Everything points to the fact that this is a terrorist attack,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters during a visit in western Sweden. He was immediately returning to the capital.

Many police and emergency services personnel were at the scene, a Reuters witness said.

Nobody has been arrested in connection with the attack police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Several attacks in which trucks or cars have driven into crowds have taken place in Europe in the past year. Al Qaeda in 2010 urged its followers to use trucks as a weapon.

In London on March 22, a man in a car ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four, and then stabbed a policeman to death before being shot by police.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for both an attack in Nice, France, last July, when a truck killed 86 people celebrating Bastille Day, and one in Berlin in December, when a truck smashed through a Christmas market, killing 12 people.

A government source told Reuters all Swedish government offices had been closed. All ministers were safe, the source said.

“We were standing by the traffic lights at Drottninggatan (Queen Street) and then we heard some screaming and saw a truck coming,” a witness, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

“Then it drove into a pillar at Ahlens City (department store) where the hood started burning. When it stopped we saw a man lying under the tyre. It was terrible to see,” said the man, who saw the incident from inside his car.

Radio Sweden reporter Martin Svenningsen said he saw three dead people “but probably more”. A Reuters witness saw a number of body-like forms covered by blankets at the scene.

Police confirmed three deaths and eight people injured.

King Carl Gustaf, Sweden’s head of state, expressed his horror at the attack.

“Our thoughts are going out to those that were affected, and to their families,” he said in a statement from the royal palace.

In Brussels, the European Union offered Sweden support and solidarity.

“An attack on any of our member states is an attack on us all,” said EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker. “One of Europe’s most vibrant and colourful cities appears to have been struck by those wishing it – and our very way of life – harm.

Flier in Lesbos refugee camp filled with lies about Sweden/refugee situation. No comment from supposed signers. -SN pic.twitter.com/y4HnDeDerE

— b9AcE (@b9AcE) November 7, 2015

A controversial flyer warning refugees against coming to Sweden is the work of the Sweden Democrats (SD). On Monday, the far-right party’s communication manager confirmed that party members are distributing these flyers in seventeen cities on Europe’s border.

Under the headline of “No money, no jobs, no homes” the flyer argues that mass immigration made Sweden a hotbed for violent crime. It claims that Sweden ‘demonstrates the second highest number of rape reports in the entire world’. Others made a similar argument on the Gatestone Institute website in February 2015. But both miss the point.

Rising crime figures do not suggest an epidemic, rather a shift in public attitudes, and policing methods. Take for example, in 2005, when Sweden passed a new sexual offences legislation. This change meant that incidents once classed as sexual exploitation are now classed as rape. In 2013, legislative amendments broadened the definition of rape to included victims deemed passive. The ease of alcohol and internet access are other societal factors police use to explain the rising incident levels.

Comparing rape statistics between countries is not conducive on two levels: there is no international standard for producing crime statistics; and legal definitions alongside police procedures vary between countries.

Klara Selin, a sociologist at the National Council for Crime Prevention in Stockholm, told the BBC in 2012 that “when a woman comes to the police and she says my husband or my fiance raped me almost every day during the last year, the police have to record each of these events, which might be more than 300 events. In many other countries it would just be one record – one victim, one type of crime, one record.”

The flyer goes onto to warn individuals in Lesbos that Sweden will send them away if they attempt to enter the country. It warns that Sweden will ban polygamy, forced marriage, halal slaughter, and the wearing of certain Islamic veils in public.

In contrast, on Saturday, in the southwestern town of Floda, arsonists burnt down a proposed refugee centre. The latest fire is of one of twelve suspected arsons targeting refugees and migrants in Sweden this year.

Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, warned against refugees entering the country last month. His party came third at the 2014 election with 12.9 per cent. A recent poll put the Sweden Democrats as the largest single party. Other polls put their public support at 20 per cent.

Åkesson has condemned the arsons. But a local SD politician named Ted Ekeroth published on his Facebook a list of proposed buildings for asylum seekers. Ekeroth’s twin brother Kent, an MP, urged people to “use every method” to register their opposition.

A groundswell of support for the SD comes from its anti-establishment posturing. A study from Linköping University found this populism sits with xenophobic and Islamophobic frameworks.

The Swedish Resistance Movement, remains country’s most infamous and violent neo-Nazi movement. The SD has its own roots in Sweden’s neo-Nazi subcultures. Some fear a rebirth of the violent neo-Nazism of the past. Anton Lundin Pettersson murdered a student and teaching assistant at a school in Trollhättan. Pettersson’s motivation was racist. And his social media account reveal flirtations with the SD and Nazism.

Others in Sweden are welcoming and supportive towards refugees. Some travel to places like Lesbos to assist. “As a Swedish citizen, I do not back this“, Mohammed Mouaid, a volunteer at Lesbos, told newspaper Södermanlands Nyheter.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven had asked the European Commission to push other EU member states to take in more refugees and migrants.

On a similar note, the Danish government had took out adverts in Lebanese newspapers to deter refugees in September.

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