Video of Quran-burning man was from Denmark in 2021, not Sweden in 2023

Rasmus Paludan, leader of the far-right Danish party Stram Kurs, burned a Quran in Stockholm on Jan. 21, an incident that has sparked protests in the Islamic world and jeopardized Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

But another video that shows Quran being burned that’s now circulating on social media has been mischaracterized. 

In the video, a man wearing a Stram Kurs hat can be seen burning a Quran before he’s stopped by several men. The men take the holy book and punch and kick the man who set fire to it.

"Some Muslims step to a man burning the Quran in Sweden," a description of the video in a Jan. 25 Facebook post says. "FREEDOM OF SPEECH can also mean FREEDOM TO GET YOUR BUTT KICKED if you step out of line."

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stated on November 21, 2024 in social media posts

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Danish-language signs can be seen in the video, and a reverse-image search of screenshots from the video led us to a March 2021 YouTube post that describes the incident as happening in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. 

Reuters found the clip in the post in a February 2021 Facebook live video on a Stram Kurs Facebook page, and identified the street: Nørrebrogade.

We rate claims that this video shows someone burning a Quran in Sweden recently False.