Protesters storm Swedish Embassy in Baghdad ahead of planned Quran burning in Stockholm
Protesters angered by the planned burning of a copy of the Quran stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad early Thursday, breaking into th♚e compound and lighting a small fire.
Online vid♛eos showed demonstrators at the diplomatic post waving flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr ahead of a p🍰lanned burning of the Islamic holy book Thursday in Stockholm.
The vid🐻eos showed dozens of men climbing over the fence at t♉he complex, with the sound of them trying to break down a front door.
Another showed what ap💟peared to be a small fire b☂eing set.
Other footage showed men, some shirtless in the summer heat, inside what appeared to be 🦩a room at the embassy, an alarm audible in the backgro✅und.
Others later performed predawn prayers outside of the embass𝐆y.
As dawn broke, police and other security officials gathered at the embassy as small plumes of smoke still rose. Firefighters tried 💝to douse the flames from the ladder of a fire truck.
Some demonstrators still stood at the site, holding placards showing al-Sadr’s face, apparently left aဣlone by police.
The Swedish Foreign M♓inistry said in a statement that “our embassy staff are in safety,” without elabo🎶rating.
“We condemn all attacks on diplomats and staff from international organizations,” the ministry said. “Attacks on embass༺ies and diplomats constitute a seri🥀ous violation of the Vienna Convention. Iraqi authorities have the responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and diplomatic staff.”
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement condemning thꦜe attack, without explaining how i𓂃t allowed the breach to happen or identifying who carried out the assault.
“The Iraqi government has instructed the competent security authorities 🐽to conduct an urgent investigation and take the necessary security 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,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Iraq🎉i police did not immediatel♉y acknowledge the attack.
The Swedish news agency TT has reported that Swedish police granted an application for a demonstration Thurꩵsday outside of the Iraqi Embassy in Stockhol🐎m.
TT reported that the applicationꦓ stated that two demonstrators planned to burn a Quran and the Iraq flag.
For Muslims, the burning of the Quran represents a blasphemous dese꧃cration of their re𝓰ligion’s holy text. Quran burnings in the past have sparked protests across the Muslim world, some turning violent.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban have suspended all the activities of Swed🌼ish organizations in the country in response to the recent Quran burning.
An Iraqi Christian immigrant last month burned a Quran outside a Stockholm mosque during the major Muslim ho🦋liday of Eid al-Adha, triggering widespread condemnation in the Islamic world.
A similar protest by a far-right activist was held outside Turkey’s Embassy🐲 earlier this year, complicating Sweden’s effo🅠rts to convince Turkey to let it join NATO.
In June, protesters who support al-Sadr stormed the embas🔯sy in Baghdad during daylight hours over that Quran burning.
Another day of protests saw thousands of demonstrators on the streets in the country. Protesters then, as well as early Thursday, called on Iraqi officials to expel Sweden’s 𒅌ambassador to Iraq.
Al-Sadr, the chameleonic son of a prominent Shiite cleric assassinated in a 1999 attack believed to be organized by Iraqi dictౠ🧔ator Saddam Hussein, quickly organized Shiite dispossessed under Saddam against the American occupation after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Saddam loyalists and Shiite extremists alike would soon fig🅷ht an insurgency against the American forces.
Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia fought American foಌrces throughout much of 2004 in 𝓰Baghdad and other cities.
Al-Sadr’s forces are believed to have later taken part in the sectarian killings between Shiites and Sunnis that plagued Iraq for several years after the bombing of one of the holiest si꧅tes in Shiite Islam.
Since that time much has changed.
Al-Sadr’s followers have taken part in Ira♏qi military offensives against the Islamic State group in Tikrit and other cities.
He has or꧙ganized rallies against government corruption, including breaching the fortified Green Zone in ♛Baghdad, the highly secure area housing government offices and many foreign embassies.
He claimed he would bow out of politi🍷cs last August, following a nearly yearlong deadlock in the f♒ormation of a new Cabinet.
His party won the largest share of seats in the October 2021 parliamentary elections,😼 but not enough to secure a majority govern♍ment.
