A Baghdad
Protesters broke into the Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad
CNN –
Protesters broke into the fence around the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday, a day after a protester in Sweden burned a copy of the Koran.
The protests in the Iraqi capital were ordered by powerful Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who also called for the expulsion of Sweden’s ambassador to Baghdad.
Videos circulating on social media showed some protesters climbing over a barricaded wall in front of the embassy. It’s unclear how far they advanced into the building before retreating.
Sweden said its employees are safe. “We are well informed about the situation. Our embassy staff are safe and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in regular contact with them,” the Swedish Foreign Ministry’s press office told CNN in an email.
An Iraqi security source confirmed to CNN that the incident is over. The AFP news agency reported that the protesters stayed at the site for about 15 minutes.
The protests in Baghdad followed an incident in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Wednesday in which a man burned a copy of Islam’s holy book outside a mosque. Pictures from the event showed that he was the only person other than his translator at the demonstration, which coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most significant in the Islamic calendar.
Al Sadr called on the authorities to strip Iraqi citizenship of Salwan Momika, the organizer of the one-man Koran protest in Stockholm, who emigrated to Sweden from Iraq five years ago.
“If Iraq and the world are guaranteed freedom of expression, believers must voice their opinions on the burning of the holy books… through massive angry protests against the Swedish embassy in Iraq,” Al Sadr said.
Muslim countries and Islamic organizations had condemned the burning of the Koran in Stockholm. Iran called the act “provocative” and Kuwait said it was a “dangerous provocative move”.
The Organization for Islamic Cooperation [OIC]the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council each separately voiced their strong condemnation of the event.
On Wednesday, Morocco recalled its ambassador to Sweden and both Iraq and Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the act. On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates summoned the Swedish ambassador to Abu Dhabi to protest the Koran burning, UAE state news agency WAM said.
Earlier this year, Iraqi protesters and security forces clashed outside the Swedish Embassy amid another Koran burning incident in Stockholm in early January this year.