More than a thousand protesters took to the streets in Sweden on Friday to urge an end to a spate of attacks against mosques, amid growing tensions over the rise of an anti-immigration party.
The demonstrations in Sweden's three largest cities, Stockholm, Malmoe and Gothenburg, came a day after what was believed to be the third arson attack on a mosque in the space of a week.
"We want to send the message that these attacks on mosques... are a problem for all of society and not just Muslims," Mohammed Kharraki a spokesman for Sweden's Islamic Association told Agence France-Presse from the largest demonstration in the capital Stockholm.
"This is about people being denied their basic rights.... Everyone needs to ask themselves, politicians and citizens if this is the kind of society they want."
Eyewitnesses saw a man throwing a petrol bomb at a mosque in Uppsala in eastern Sweden early on New Year's day, three days after a late-night blaze at a mosque in Esloev in the south, which police suspect was also arson.
The slogan "Go home Muslim shit" was also emblazoned across the doors of the building.
On Christmas Day, five people were injured in another suspected arson attack on a mosque in Eskilstuna, west of the capital Stockholm.
Swedish police said that they were stepping up security around mosques and continuing to search for the culprits.
"We are working flat out with the investigation but we have no leads to report yet," police spokeswoman Lisa Sannervik in Uppsala told AFP.
According to the anti-racism magazine Expo, there have been at least a dozen confirmed attacks on mosques in Sweden in the last year and a far larger number are believed to have gone unreported.
In a government survey of hate crimes in November two-thirds of Swedish Muslim associations said their buildings had been vandalized.
Sweden's Minister for Culture and Democracy Alice Bah Kuhnke said the latest attacks "aimed at intimidating and diminishing" people.
"That's why one of the most important things we can do is to not let ourselves be intimidated," she told demonstrators in Stockholm, adding that the police would prioritize the search for the culprits and step up the protection of places of worship.
The mosque attacks come as debate intensifies in Sweden over immigration in the traditionally tolerant Nordic country, which is expected to receive about 100,000 asylum applications this year, a record.
Last month the far right Sweden Democrats -- which doubled their support to 13 percent in September elections -- came close to bringing down the left-green government over its liberal refugee policies.
The party, which wants to cut immigration by 90 percent, has increased its support in opinion polls to around 16 percent.
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the "Sigang Istokwa ng Tawi-Tawi" will be forcibly evicted in Pinoy Big Brother Teen Clash of 2010 like former housemate Maichel Fideles
Big Brother announced this Tuesday (April 27) after showing a clip of Eslove raising a knife against Tricia Santos
Two housemates from the previous editions also had the same fate
Maricris Dizon of PBB Season 2 and Tom Rodriguez of PBB Double Up
According to the rulebook "Any housemate showing any form of violence will be removed from the house immediately."
voting will continue for the three remaining nominees: Tricia Santos
and one of them will leave the PBB House this coming Saturday (May 1)
Shey Bustamante received good news from Big Brother when he told her that he has traced the location of her long-lost father
Though Big Bro knows where to find the man
he also respects the father's privacy and so he gave him a 24-hour ultimatum to decide if he would want to get in touch with his 17-year old daughter
How will the housemates deal with these good and bad news
Find out from Mariel Rodriguez in PBB Teen Clash 2010 Uber
Toni Gonzaga in PBB Teen Clash of 2010 on Primetime Bida
Also catch PBB Raw Teen Clash of 201o from Monday to Saturday
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A back-to-back eviction happened last Saturday (April 24) in the first eviction night of Pinoy Big Brother Teen Clash of 2010
was forcibly evicted due to his disobedience to the house rules and Big Brother's task while the Political Son of Dipolog
received the lowest percentage of votes (5.53%) from the viewers
Escaping eviction were Angelo Pasco (15.16%)
who got the highest percentage of votes amounting to 41.48%
the remaining 14 housemates underwent another grueling nomination night where Rebecca Chiongbian
and Tricia Santos emerged with the most number of votes
Yen got six points due to her alleged lack of seriousness in tasks while Becca received nine points for sleeping too much inside the house
who offended some of his housemates with his jokes
How will the four cope with their nomination
especially now that Big Brother will be merging the two houses
Also catch PBB Raw Teen Clash of 2010 from Monday to Saturday
We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on PEP.ph. By continued use, you agree to our privacy policy and accept our use of such cookies. Find out more here.