ANKARA 

Those who burned a copy of the Quran in Sweden are “modern barbarians” who have a “primitive mindset,” Turkey’s presidential spokesman said on Sunday in a strong message against the Islamophobic act.

“They shamelessly burn the Qur’an, the sacred book of Islam, in the middle of Europe. They then claim to be the paragons of reason, logic, freedom and justice,” Ibrahim Kalin said in a tweet.

“They label anyone not like them as anti-reason bigots and retros. Modern barbarians know no limits in primitive mindset.”

The incident took place in the Swedish city of Malmo on Friday evening, where far-right activists of the anti-Muslim group Stram Krus (Hard Line) burned a copy of the Quran at a rally in the largely migrant neighborhood of Rosengard.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has also vehemently criticized the incident, saying that such “provocative acts are a heavy blow to the culture of coexistence and European values.”

“This despicable act against our holy book is an exemplary act, as it reveals the extent to which the threat Muslims face in Europe has come,” the ministry said in a statement earlier on Saturday.

Protests against the racist act broke out in Malmo soon after, with demonstrators blocking roads and burning tires as they called for action against the perpetrators.

Swedish police later said that three people were arrested for burning the Muslim holy book.

The racist far-right group’s leader, anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan, was banned from entering Sweden for two years./aa