A massive crowd of demonstrators, estimated to number in the hundreds, besieged the Swedish embassy in central Baghdad early Thursday morning.
Scaling the embassy walls, they set fire to the structure in a furious protest against a planned Quran burning event in Sweden.
The press office of the Swedish Foreign Ministry quickly informed the public that all embassy personnel in Baghdad were safe. They strongly condemned the attack, highlighting the importance of Iraqi authorities ensuring the safety of foreign missions. At this time, the ministry has not responded to questions with additional information.
Read more : Muslims are the most satisfied with their lives when compared to other religions: German study
The Thursday event was organized by supporters of famous cleric Muqtada Sadr. The rally’s goal was to protest the upcoming second Quran-burning event in Sweden. These ideas were revealed in posts on a popular Telegram group.
Muqtada Sadr, a powerful personality in Iraq, exerts enormous power over hundreds of thousands of loyal followers. He has previously called for huge mobilizations, as seen last summer when his supporters occupied Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone, resulting in violent clashes.
On the same day as the demonstration, the Swedish police had granted permission for a public meeting outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm. The permission stated that only two people would be attending the event.
According to TT, these two persons planned to burn the Quran and the Iraqi flag during the public meeting, and one of them had previously burnt a Quran outside a Stockholm mosque in June
Earlier this year, Swedish authorities dismissed multiple petitions for Quran-burning protests, citing security concerns. Courts later overruled these decisions, citing the country’s broad freedom of expression provisions, which include symbolic expression such as the burning of religious scriptures.
People gathered at the Swedish embassy around 1 a.m. on Thursday (around 2200 GMT on Wednesday), according to videos posted on the Telegram group One Baghdad. The crowds stormed the embassy compound an hour later, chanting pro-Sadr slogans and showing their strong support for the Quran.
Read more : The OIC has called for immediate action to prevent the sacrilege of the Holy Quran.
The event was also severely condemned by Iraq’s foreign ministry, which issued a statement urging security authorities to conduct a thorough and prompt investigation to identify and punish the offenders accountable.
As the sun rose on Thursday, security forces were stationed within the embassy compound, assisting firefighters in extinguishing the leftover embers. While the majority of protestors had already dispersed, a small handful remained, resulting in a clash with Iraqi security forces. After a brief exchange of rocks and projectiles, security personnel charged at the few dozen remaining protesters to clear the area.
Following the Quran burning event involving an Iraqi man in Stockholm last month, Muqtada Sadr called for protests against Sweden and the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador.
The man in question was arrested for inciting hatred against a certain ethnic or national group. He described himself as an Iraqi refugee in an interview with a journalist.
The earlier Quran burning in Stockholm sparked two massive rallies outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, with protestors successfully breaching the embassy grounds on one occasion. In response to the incident, several Muslim countries, including Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco, released statements of disapproval. Iraq, in particular, requested the man’s extradition to stand trial within its borders.
