"We can suddenly come knocking one night"

A group of people staged a demonstration on Saturday in front of the Swedish consulate in Istanbul in protest against the burning of a copy of Koran by a far right politician in Stockholm.

Kuran-ı Kerim yakılmasına konsolosluk önünde tepki: Bir gece ansızın Stockholm'e geliriz!https://t.co/dz6MinmXjk pic.twitter.com/lA5fNTGOoq

— T24 (@t24comtr) January 21, 2023

The group, composed of ultra nationalists, tried to break into the consulate grounds, burned a Swedish national flag, and chanted takbir (Arabic expression for "God is the greatest"), according to a report by T24.

The protest was staged hours after the leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran during a manifestation on Saturday outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

A representative of one of the organizers of the Istanbul protest called for a "strong reaction" instead of "mere sanctions" against Sweden, whose officials have been targeted by Ankara for allowing Paludan's hateful act against Islam.

The representative addressed the angry crowd, saying:

"A light response to this incident, such as mere sanctions, is not acceptable, because this racist, fascist politician, this enemy of Islam, insulted Koran. If we Muslims let this be forgotten by feeble reactions, the same vile thing will happen again."

The representative of another organization said:

"The banner of Islam and the glorious Turkish flag will continue to wave till the judgement day. We are the nation of prophet Muhammad (...) We can suddenly come knocking one night, like our ancestors, erect the Turkish-Islamic banner in your capital Stockholm, and perform the morning prayer there."