Hundreds storm Swedish embassy in Iraq and torch the building in protest over plans to burn another Koran in Stockholm
- Hundreds scaled walls of Swedish embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and set it on fire
- Demonstrators were protesting against planned burning of Koran in Sweden
Hundreds of protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in central Baghdad in the early hours of Thursday morning, scaling its walls and setting it on fire in protest against the planned burning of a copy of the Koran in Sweden.
Footage shows demonstrators waving flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr before they climbed over the fence and entered the embassy to set it alight.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom on Thursday condemned the storming of the embassy as ‘totally unacceptable’ while adding all staff in Baghdad were safe. ‘It is clear that the Iraqi authorities have seriously failed in their responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and personnel,’ a furious Billstrom said.
The demonstration was called by supporters of political leader Sadr to protest the second planned burning of the Koran in weeks in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sadr, one of Iraq’s most powerful figures, commands hundreds of thousands of followers whom he has at times called to the streets, including last summer when they occupied Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone and engaged in deadly clashes.
Footage shows demonstrators waving flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr before they climbed over the fence and entered the embassy to set it alight
Iraqi riot police try to disperse supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathering for a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr climb the fence outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday
Protesters clash with security forces members as they gather near the Swedish embassy in Baghdad hours after the embassy was stormed and set on fire on Thursday
Swedish police on Wednesday granted an application for a public meeting outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on Thursday, the police permit showed. Police said in the permit two people were expected to participate.
The two people planned to burn the Koran and the Iraqi flag at the public meeting, and included a man who set a Koran on fire outside a Stockholm mosque in June, Swedish news agency TT reported.
Swedish police denied several applications earlier this year for protests that were set to include burning the Koran, citing security concerns. Courts have since overturned the police’s decisions, saying such acts are protected by the country’s far-reaching freedom of speech laws.
A series of videos posted to the Telegram group, One Baghdad, showed people gathering around the Swedish embassy around 1 a.m. on Thursday (2200 GMT on Wednesday) chanting pro-Sadr slogans and storming the embassy complex around an hour later.
‘Yes, yes to the Koran,’ protesters chanted.
Videos later showed smoke rising from a building in the embassy complex and protesters standing on its roof.
Protesters storm the Swedish embassy ahead of an expected Koran burning in Stockholm, in Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gather for a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday
Protesters scale a wall at the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad on Thursday
upporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gather for a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday
Iraqi riot police try to disperse supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathering for a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday
Iraq’s foreign ministry also condemned the incident and said in a statement the Iraqi government had instructed security forces to carry out a swift investigation, identify perpetrators and hold them to account.
By dawn on Thursday, security forces had deployed inside the embassy and smoke rose from the building as fire-fighters extinguished stubborn embers, according to Reuters witnesses.
Iraqi security forces later charged at a few dozen protesters still milling around outside the embassy in an attempt to clear them from the area. Protesters had earlier briefly thrown rocks and projectiles towards the large number of security forces gathered.
Late last month, Sadr called for protests against Sweden and the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador after the Koran burning in Stockholm by an Iraqi man.
After the burning, the man was reported to police for agitation against an ethnic or national group. In a newspaper interview, he described himself as an Iraqi refugee seeking to ban the Koran, the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God.
Two major protests took place outside of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in the aftermath of that Koran burning, with protesters breaching the embassy grounds on one occasion.
The governments of several Muslim countries, including Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco issued protests about the incident, with Iraq seeking the man’s extradition to face trial in the country.
The United States also condemned it, but added that Sweden’s issuing of the permit supported freedom of expression and was not an endorsement of the action.
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr raise his portrait as they gather for a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr climb the fence outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday
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