Video shows reactions to Quran burning in Sweden, not rally for Sharia law

Context

A video has gone viral on X that falsely claims to show a protest of "Muslim extremists" in Sweden demonstrating in support of Sharia law. The complete caption of the viral post states, "Muslim extremists in Sweden are protesting and calling for Sharia law. If they want Sharia so much, why don't they go back to their countries?!" 

The original post has gained 1.3 million views on X and has been reshared by European Invasion, Visegrad 24, Radio Genoa, Peter of Sweden, and Rickard Jomshof, MP for the Sweden Democrats and chairman of the Justice Committee in the Swedish Riksdag. Together, the posts have accumulated more than two million views. 

However, the video shows attendees reacting to a Quran burning in Skärholmen, Sweden, and not a demonstration calling for the implementation of Sharia law. 

In fact

The viral video shows a demonstration that took place on April 26, 2024, in Skärholmen, Sweden in reaction to a Quran burning. Attendants can be heard shouting in Arabic and Swedish. In Swedish, the attendees shout, "Inga rasister på våra gator," which translates to "No racists on our streets." A woman reciting the last parts of the older 1917 version of the Lord's Prayer in Swedish is also audible until the 18-second mark in the video.

In footage of the scene from a different angle, published by Hedlund Media on April 26, the Lord's Prayer is also audible, and the same demonstrators are visible. The cloud coverage and lack of leaves on the tree in front of the metro station also match the viral video. The videos also correlate with footage published by Swedish-Arabic media house Al Kompis on April 26. We have not been able to locate the original footage. 

Comparison of the viral footage and the video published by Hedlund Media. The same demonstrators are visible in both videos, highlighted in red and yellow. (Source: X/Youtube (Hedlund Media)/Screenshot/Edited by Logically Facts)

Logically Facts contacted Inas Hamdan, a journalist at Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan who specializes in disinformation and extremism, to translate the Arabic content of the video. Hamdan told us that the protestor in the video repeatedly shouts, "There is no God but God," which is the Islamic Creed, also known as the Shahada, and "If you fight it [Islam], it becomes stronger; if it is left alone, it grows." Hamdan also clarified that there is no mention of Sharia law in the viral video.

An article published by Al Kompis corroborates Hamdan's translation and states that no one in the video demanded the implementation of Sharia laws in Sweden. 

The Quran burning was carried out by Jade Sandberg, also known in Sweden as the "Cross Woman," and Salwan Najem. Both carried out similar events before and after the event on April 26.  

The verdict

The video shows a demonstration in Skärholmen, Sweden, in reaction to a Quran burning and not a demonstration in favor of implementing Sharia law. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.