Responding The Plan Of Al-Qur'an Burning, Protesters Attack And Burn The Swedish Embassy In Iraq

Swedish flag illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Florian Prischl)

JAKARTA - Hundreds of protesters stormed the Swedish Embassy in central Baghdad in the early hours of Thursday, climbing over the wall and setting it ablaze in protest against plans to resume burning of the Quran in the country.

All Baghdad embassy staff are safe, the Swedish Foreign Ministry press office said in a statement, condemning the attack and highlighting the need for Iraqi authorities to protect the diplomatic mission.

A series of videos uploaded to the One Baghdad Telegram group shows people gathering around the embassy at around 1 am on Thursday, shouting pro-Muqtad Sadr slogans and storming the embassy compound about an hour later.

"Yes, yes to the Quran," shouted the protesters, launching Reuters on July 20.

Video then shows smoke billowing from a building in the embassy compound, while protesters stand on its roof. However, the authenticity of the video cannot be independently verified.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemned the incident, saying in a statement, the Iraqi government had instructed security forces to carry out a swift investigation, identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable.

By dawn on Thursday, security forces had been deployed inside the embassy and smoke was billowing from the building as workers attempted to extinguish it, according to witnesses.

In the aftermath, most of the protesters had retreated, with a few dozen loitering outside the embassy.

Thursday's demonstration was called by supporters of Sadr's Shia cleric, to protest Sweden's second planned burning of the Quran in as many weeks, according to a post on the Telegram group.

Sadr, one of Iraq's most powerful figures, ordered hundreds of thousands of his followers to take to the streets, including last summer, when they occupied Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and engaged in deadly clashes.

Late last month, Sadr called for protests against Sweden and the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador, following the burning of a Quran in Stockholm by an Iraqi man.

Swedish police accused the man of agitating against an ethnic or national group. In a newspaper interview, he described himself as an Iraqi refugee trying to ban the Quran, Islam's main religious text, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God.

Two large protests took place outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad following the Quran burning, with protesters breaching the embassy grounds on one occasion.

Separately, the Swedish news agency TT reported on Wednesday, Swedish police granted a request for a demonstration outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm on Thursday.

The petition said the petitioner attempted to burn the Quran and the Iraqi flag, as reported by TT.

It is known that the governments of various Muslim countries, including Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco issued protests about the incident, with Iraq asking for the extradition of the arsonists to be tried in that country.

The United States also condemned it but said Sweden's granting of a license supports free expression and is not an endorsement of the measure.