Ahmed Saad/Portal
Protesters scale a fence near the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on July 20, 2023.
CNN –
Hundreds of protesters stormed the main gate of the Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad early Thursday in response to police in Stockholm allowing a demonstration at which organizers are reportedly planning another burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.
Videos posted on social media showed large numbers of protesters surrounding the Swedish embassy, as well as black smoke and fire rising from the building.
The protest in Sweden, scheduled for Thursday, comes just weeks after a lone man set fire to pages of the Koran outside Stockholm’s main mosque, prompting widespread outrage and condemnation around the world, including in Iraq.
According to AFP, Swedish police said on Wednesday they had issued a protest permit outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm. Media reported that the organizers planned to burn the Muslim holy book.
Stockholm police told AFP they had given permission for a “public meeting” outside the Iraqi embassy, but declined to comment on the protesters’ plans.
Obtained from CNN
A large number of protesters burst into the Swedish embassy in Baghdad early Thursday.
According to AFP, the Swedish police emphasized that they only issue permits for the holding of public meetings and not for the activities carried out during these events.
At the protests in Baghdad, eyewitnesses told CNN that protesters retreated from the Swedish embassy after setting fire to part of it “after delivering their message of protest against the burning of God’s holy book.”
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemned the fire at the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.
The incident is part of a worrying pattern of attacks on diplomatic missions that pose a significant security threat, the ministry said.
It added that the Iraqi government acted swiftly and ordered the relevant security agencies to launch an urgent investigation, “measures to uncover the circumstances of the incident, identify the perpetrators of this act and hold them accountable under the law.”
In late June, a man burned a copy of Islam’s holy book outside a Stockholm mosque, sparking mass condemnation across the Muslim world.
Pictures from the event showed that apart from his translator, he was the only person at the demonstration, which coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most significant days in the Islamic calendar.