In the early hours of Thursday morning, a large gathering of demonstrators, estimated to be in the hundreds, besieged the Swedish embassy located in central Baghdad.
Scaling the embassy walls, they set the building ablaze in a fervent protest against an anticipated Quran burning event in Sweden.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry press office swiftly reassured the public that all embassy staff in Baghdad were safe. They vehemently condemned the attack, emphasizing the necessity for Iraqi authorities to ensure the protection of diplomatic missions. At this point, the ministry has not provided further details in response to inquiries.
The demonstration on Thursday was organized by supporters of the prominent cleric, Muqtada Sadr. The rally aimed to denounce the second planned Quran burning event in Sweden within a matter of weeks. These plans were made evident through posts on a popular Telegram group.
Muqtada Sadr, a highly influential figure in Iraq, wields considerable influence over hundreds of thousands of devoted followers. On previous occasions, he has called for mass mobilizations, as witnessed last summer when his supporters occupied Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone, leading to violent confrontations.
The Swedish police had granted permission for a public meeting outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on the same day as the demonstration. The permit indicated the participation of only two individuals in the event.
Reports from the Swedish news agency TT suggested that these two individuals intended to burn the Quran and the Iraqi flag during the public meeting, one of whom had previously ignited a Quran outside a Stockholm mosque in June.
Earlier this year, Swedish police had denied several applications for protests involving Quran burnings, citing security concerns. However, courts later overturned these decisions, citing the country’s extensive freedom of speech protections, which include acts of symbolic expression such as burning religious texts.
Videos surfaced on the Telegram group, One Baghdad, showing people assembling around the Swedish embassy around 1 a.m. on Thursday (at 2200 GMT on Wednesday). Chanting pro-Sadr slogans, the demonstrators stormed the embassy complex approximately an hour later, expressing their strong support for the Quran.
Iraq’s foreign ministry also strongly denounced the incident, issuing a statement that urged security forces to conduct a thorough and swift investigation to identify and hold the perpetrators accountable.
As dawn broke on Thursday, security forces were deployed within the embassy compound, working alongside firefighters to extinguish the remaining embers. While most protesters had already dispersed, a small group remained, leading to a confrontation with Iraqi security forces. The security forces charged at the few dozen remaining protesters to clear the area, after some demonstrators had briefly thrown rocks and projectiles.
The situation was further exacerbated when, last month, Muqtada Sadr called for protests against Sweden and the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador following the Quran burning incident involving an Iraqi man in Stockholm.
The man in question was reported to the police for inciting hatred against a particular ethnic or national group. In an interview with a newspaper, he identified himself as an Iraqi refugee.
The previous Quran burning in Stockholm prompted two major protests outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, with protesters managing to breach the embassy grounds during one instance. Several Muslim countries, including Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco, issued protests in response to the incident. Iraq, in particular, sought the man’s extradition to face trial within its jurisdiction.
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