Sweden PM says ‘foreign actors’ exploiting protests

By KARL RITTER
Associated Press

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has denounced activists who burned the Quran and hanged an effigy of Turkey’s president in Stockholm as “useful idiots” for foreign powers who want to inflict harm on the Scandinavian country as it seeks to join NATO. In Kristersson’s words: “We have seen how foreign actors, even state actors, have used these manifestations to inflame the situation in a way that is directly harmful to Swedish security.” The prime minister gathered leaders of Sweden’s parliamentary parties to discuss the national security situation amid rising tensions with Turkey and a wave of anti-Swedish protests in other Muslim countries. The protests came in reaction to a series of small demonstrations this month in Stockholm targeting Turkey.