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Under increased police protection, behind metal barriers, right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan with Swedish and Danish nationality, a fighter against Islam and immigration, burned a copy of the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm today, as he had promised earlier, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.

The police permission for this protest angered Turkey, which canceled a planned visit by the Swedish defense minister.

This visit was aimed at persuading Ankara to withdraw its objections to Sweden's entry into NATO.

"If someone doesn't think they should have freedom of speech, let them go live somewhere else," Paludan, who has previously burned copies of the Muslim holy book, said in a nearly hour-long speech.

The Swedish police decided yesterday that the constitution and freedoms in Sweden did not allow his protest to be banned in the name of public order.

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Today, the spokesman for the Turkish presidential office, Ibrahim Kalan, condemned the planned protest as an "obvious hate crime".

"The authorization for this action, despite all our warnings, means the encouragement of hate crimes and Islamophobia, he said and added: The attack on sacred values ​​is not freedom, but modern barbarism.

Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonsson said for his part that the decision to "postpone" his visit was made jointly with his Turkish counterpart during the meeting on Ukraine at the US military base Ramstein in Germany.

"Relations with Turkey are very important for Sweden and we will be happy to continue the dialogue at a future opportunity," Jönsson pointed out.