Hundreds of supporters of the influential Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed and set fire to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday, because they expect a Quran to be burned in Sweden. According to a source for the Reuters news agency, no embassy personnel were injured in the storm.
The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the embassy’s staff are ‘safe’. A press spokesperson for the ministry also said that Iraqi authorities have a responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and personnel.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry also condemned the storming, saying in a statement that the Iraqi government has instructed security forces to conduct a speedy investigation, identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable.
Videos posted to a popular Telegram channel supporting al-Sadr show people gathering at the embassy on Thursday and storming the building complex not much later. Other videos show smoke billowing from a building on the embassy grounds. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the video footage.
Media have reported that the police in Stockholm have given permission for a demonstration in front of the Iraqi embassy where a new Koran burning is planned. Late last month, al-Sadr called for protests against Sweden and for the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador after an Iraqi man burned a Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm.
In the aftermath of the Koran burning, two large demonstrations took place outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. During one of those demonstrations, the demonstrators entered the embassy grounds, but did not enter the embassy building itself.
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