Morocco recalls envoy to Sweden as anger widens over Quran desecration

Morocco has recalled its ambassador to Sweden for an indefinite period after a man tore up and burned a Quran outside Stockholm's central mosque, the state news agency said.

Morocco's Foreign Ministry also summoned Sweden's chargé d'affaires in Rabat early on Thursday and expressed the kingdom's "strong condemnation of this attack and its rejection of this unacceptable act", the state news agency said.

Sweden's police first allowed the burning of Quran by an extremist and later launched a probe into hate speech.

In its written decision granting a permit for the attack on Muslim holy book, Stockholm police said on Wednesday the security risks associated with the burning "were not of a nature that could justify, under current laws, a decision to reject the request".

As anger widened, police said they launched an investigation over hate speech against the Iraqi-origin attacker who burned a copy of the Quran in front of a mosque in the Sodermalm district of Stockholm as Muslims across the world celebrated Eid al Adha.

Morocco's decision to recall envoy came after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the burning of the pages of the Islamic holy book "despicable."

"It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan wrote on Twitter.

"Turning a blind eye to such atrocious acts is to be complicit."

Kristersson leaves it to police to decide on sacrilege

Burning of religious texts is "disrespectful and hurtful", the deputy spokesperson for the US State Department told reporters in a daily briefing.

"What might be legal is certainly not necessarily appropriate," Vedant Patel said.

Noa Omran, a 32-year-old artist from Stockholm, called the protest "absolutely insane".

"It's just hatred masquerading in the name of democracy and freedom, which it isn't," the woman, who said her mother was from a Muslim background, told the AFP news agency at the scene.

The police authorisation for the protest came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected the police's decision to deny permits for two demonstrations in Stockholm which were to include Quran desecrations.

Police had at the time cited security concerns, following the January protest which led to weeks of demonstrations and calls for a boycott of Swedish goods.

Similar acts have in the past sparked violent protests and outrage across the Muslim world.

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference on Wednesday he would not speculate about how the protest could affect Sweden's NATO process.

"It's legal but not appropriate," he said, adding that it was up to the police to make decisions on sacrilege of Muslims' holy book.