Iraqi demonstrators assault the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in the early hours of Thursday, over the burning of the Quran.
Hundreds of demonstrators assaulted the main gates of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, in response to Stockholm police granting permission for a demonstration in which organisers are apparently preparing another burning of the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
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The demonstration in Sweden, slated for Thursday, comes only weeks after a lone man set fire to Quran pages outside Stockholm’s major mosque, sparking worldwide anger and condemnation, including in Iraq.
According to AFP, Swedish police announced Wednesday that they had granted permission for a protest outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, and that organisers wanted to burn the Muslim holy book.
Stockholm police told AFP that they had granted permission for a “public gathering” outside the Iraqi embassy but would to comment on what the demonstrators were planning.
Protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad early Thursday morning.
According to AFP, the Swedish police have stated that they only provide licences for people to hold public gatherings and not for the acts that take place during them.
Eyewitnesses at the Baghdad protest told SurgeZirc NG sources, that protestors fled from the Swedish Embassy’s perimeter after lighting part of it on fire “after delivering their message of protest against the act of burning the Holy Book of God.”
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemned the destruction of Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.
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According to the ministry, the act is part of a worrying pattern of attacks on diplomatic missions, posing a substantial security risk.
It went on to say that the Iraqi government acted quickly, asking competent security officials to initiate an urgent investigation, “measures in order to uncover the circumstances of the incident and identify the perpetrators of this act and hold them accountable according to the law.”
