Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson denounced the leader of the far-right party propping up his government on Monday after he called for some mosques to be torn down. Sweden Democrats (SD) leader Jimmie Akesson called for some mosques to be seized and levelled during a speech at his annual party conference on Saturday.
“We need to start confiscating and tearing down mosques where anti-democratic, anti-Swedish, homophobic, anti-Semitic propaganda or general disinformation is being spread,” Akesson said. Kristersson, whose coalition government does not include SD but relies on its support, condemned the statements as “disrespectful”. “I think it is a disrespectful way of expressing oneself, a polarising way of expressing oneself,” Kristersson told broadcaster SVT.
“This misrepresents what Sweden stands for internationally,” he added. Akesson’s speech sparked anger both in Sweden and abroad and forced Kristersson to issue a statement on X, formerly Twitter, reiterating Sweden’s “constitutional right to freedom of religion”. “In Sweden, we do not demolish places of worship. —AFP
