Hundreds of demonstrators apparently stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire. Videos on social media show how protesters gathered around the embassy on Thursday night and after about an hour broke through the barriers and stormed the building complex. Later videos show flames and thick smoke billowing from a building.
The Reuters news agency was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the videos, but an eyewitness confirmed the storming and fire at the embassy. The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that all employees are doing well. Sweden condemned the incident. Iraqi authorities must protect diplomatic missions, the ministry said. Iraq also “strongly condemns” the arson attack on the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said. Security forces are instructed to quickly investigate the incident and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Planned burning of the Koran as a trigger
The background to the protests is the renewed burning of the Koran planned for this Thursday in Sweden. Again and again there are violent demonstrations when a Koran is set on fire or otherwise destroyed. Willful desecration of the Koran is considered blasphemous in Islam. There are severe penalties for doing so in many predominantly Muslim countries.
At the end of June, a man set fire to a Koran during a demonstration in front of a Stockholm mosque, triggering outrage and angry protests. The governments of several Muslim countries – including Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco – protested the incident. Iraq demanded the man’s extradition. Thousands of people took to the streets there, many of them supporters of the influential Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, who had called for it. This time, too, it was al-Sadr who called for protests ahead of the announced burning of the Koran in Sweden.
Swedish news agency TT reported on Wednesday that a request for a public meeting in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm this Thursday had been approved. Two people want to take part in the demonstration and burn the Koran and the Iraqi flag. One of the two is apparently the man who set fire to the Koran in front of the Stockholm mosque back in June.