That’s behind it
Here Pakistanis set fire to the Swiss flag
A video circulating online shows a group of Pakistanis setting a Swiss flag on fire. The reason: In Sweden, right-wing extremists had burned the Koran. Only later do the protesters realize that they had lit the wrong flag.
Published: 4:31 p.m
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Updated: 6:11 p.m
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During a protest in Pakistan, a group sets fire to the Swiss flag.
It happens again and again that Switzerland is confused with Sweden. Just last summer, US President Joe Biden (80) fell into the trap and spoke of “Switzerland” instead of Sweden at the NATO summit in Madrid.
Now it has happened once more – in Pakistan. As a video shows, a group of demonstrators also find Sweden and Switzerland confusingly similar. Instead of the Swedish flag, she lights a Swiss flag during a protest action. This is reported by Watson.
The background is a right-wing extremist demonstration in which the Koran was recently burned in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. At the forefront was right-wing extremist provocateur Rasmus Paludan (41), founder of the Danish anti-immigration and Islamophobic party Stram Kurs. He had organized the Islamophobic gathering. Pictures show how he enjoys setting fire to the Koran.
Error was then noticed
The demonstration by the right-wing extremists triggered great outrage and protests in the Islamic world. So also the one who can be seen in the video. Nobody seemed to notice that they set fire to the Swiss flag instead of the Swedish one.
Meanwhile, protesters in Pakistan have realized they mistakenly set fire to the Swiss flag. Recent images of the local demonstrations show them lighting the Swedish flag. Tensions between Sweden and Turkey have escalated since right-wing demonstrators burned the Koran.
“Attack on Sacred Values”
Relations between Stockholm and Ankara are already strained due to the dispute over Sweden’s application to join NATO. Turkey and Hungary are the only ones of the 30 NATO countries that have not yet cleared the way for Sweden to join the military alliance. During his visit, originally planned for January 27, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson (50) wanted to ensure that Turkey gave up its opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership.
However, the approval of the Swedish authorities for the demo sparked anger from the government in Ankara. The spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (68), Ibrahim Kalin (51), wrote on Twitter that allowing the demonstration despite “all our warnings” corresponds to “encouragement to hate crimes and Islamophobia”. The “attack on sacred values” is “not freedom, but modern barbarism”. (dzc/AFP)