More than a thousand demonstrators took to the streets in Sweden’s three biggest cities on Friday to protest a string of recent attacks on mosques, as the traditionally tolerant country adjusts to the rising popularity of the far right.

The rallies, which were held in Stockholm, Malmo and Goteborg, came a day after what was believed to be the third arson attack on a mosque in the space of just one week.

Sweden, where over 20 percent of the 10 million population are immigrants, has recently seen a steep rise in anti-immigrant sentiment and gains for the far right Swedish Democrats party.

Demonstrators in the capital, Stockholm, waved placards and a banner with the words “Don’t touch my mosque,” as Muslim community leaders addressed the gathering preaching tolerance.

The spate of assaults on places of Muslim worship began on Christmas Day when five people were injured in a suspected arson attack on a mosque in Eskilstuna, west of Stockholm.

Four days later, a mosque in the southern town of Eslov was set ablaze in what police suspect to be yet another arson attack. The slogan "Go home Muslim shit" was also emblazoned across the doors of the building.

In the early hours of New Year’s Day, a man was seen hurling a petrol bomb into a mosque in east Sweden’s Uppsala.

Swedish police said that they were stepping up security around mosques and continuing to search for the culprits.

"We are working flat out, but we have no leads to report yet," police spokeswoman Lisa Sannervik said.

Intimidation

According to the anti-racism magazine Expo, there have been at least a dozen confirmed attacks on mosques in Sweden in the last year and a far larger number are believed to have gone unreported.

In a government survey of hate crimes in November two-thirds of Swedish Muslim associations said their buildings had been vandalised.

Sweden's Minister for Culture and Democracy Alice Bah Kuhnke said the latest attacks "aimed at intimidating and diminishing" people.

"That's why one of the most important things we can do is to not let ourselves be intimidated," she told demonstrators in Stockholm, adding that the police would prioritise the search for the culprits and step up the protection of places of worship.

The mosque attacks come as the debate intensifies over immigration in Sweden, with a further record 100,000 asylum applications expected this year.

Last month the far right Sweden Democrats -- which doubled their support to 13 percent in September’s elections – came close to bringing down the left-green coalition government over its liberal refugee policies.

The party, which wants to cut immigration by 90 percent, currently stands at approximately 16 percent in the opinion polls.

(FRANCE 24)