"Sweden Protester Backtracks on Burning Torah and Bible Plan"
Ahmad Alloush, who had planned to burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli embassy in Sweden, abandoned the plan and instead held a demonstration against desecrating holy books. Alloush criticized previous incidents of Quran burnings in Sweden, stating that while it is acceptable to criticize Islam, burning the Quran is not freedom of expression but an action. The burning of holy books has caused controversy in Sweden, with little popular support and condemnation from the Swedish foreign ministry. A recent poll showed that the majority of Swedes support a ban on public burnings of religious texts, but a complete ban would require the reintroduction of a law scrapped in the 1970s. The United Nations Human Rights Council approved a resolution on religious hatred and bigotry following the burnings in Sweden, opposed by the United States and the European Union.