As Sweden is burdened with the violence in Malmo after protests over a Quran-burning rally, it has allowed new lines and fissures to emerge on social media. For netizens in India, they're drawing on these protests and riots as similarities to the riots in Delhi and Bengaluru.
What is problematic about drawing these lines, is also the hate speech that's being propelled towards Muslims.
Sweden riots sparks debate in India
The riot and violence that broke out on Friday in Malmo, Sweden has drawn a lot of concern around the world. Protests broke out against a Quran-burning rally, causing 300 to take to the streets. Rasmus Paludan a far-right leader was due to arrive in Malmo to attend an event. Authorities pre-empted his arrival and what followed was violence and complete break down of law and order.
This series of events has sparked outrage on social media. For India, the past year on home turf has been difficult to say the least. With controversial bills such as CAA and the recent riot in Bengaluru over a Facebook post on Prophet Mohammed has unsettled the Indian population. What the Sweden riot has done is reopened fresh wounds.
In such a time, more incidents like these around the world has only added fuel to fire. Many netizens on social media drew comparisons and raised questions. Some going so far as to target a community over riots in the country.
Perhaps in a time where there is a need for more peace, we're moving farther away from it than we had thought we would.
