Protesters set fire to Sweden\u2019s embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad early Thursday, an\u00a0international news agency journalist said, ahead of a planned burning of a Quran in Sweden. Swedish authorities approved an assembly to be held later Thursday outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where organisers plan to burn a copy of the Quran as well as an Iraqi flag. Iraqis have been angered by events in Sweden, and Thursday\u2019s protest in Baghdad was organised by supporters of the turbulent religious leader Moqtada Sadr. Some protesters raised copies of the Quran into the air, while others held portraits of Mohamed al-Sadr, an important religious cleric and the father of Moqtada Sadr. \u201cWe are mobilised today to denounce the burning of the Quran, which is all about love and faith,\u201d protester Hassan Ahmed told an international news agency. \u201cWe demand that the Swedish government and the Iraqi government stop this type of initiative.\u201d \u201cWe didn\u2019t wait until morning, we broke in at dawn and set fire to the Swedish embassy,\u201d a young demonstrator in Baghdad told an international news agency on Thursday, before chanting Moqtada\u2019s name. Sweden\u2019s foreign ministry told an\u00a0international news agency its embassy staff in Baghdad were \u201csafe\u201d following the incident. \u201cThe Iraqi authorities are responsible for the protection of diplomatic missions and their staff\u201d, the ministry said, adding that attacks on embassies and diplomats \u201cconstitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention\u201d. Several trucks to extinguish the fire had arrived at the embassy, where skirmishes between Iraqi security forces and demonstrators had broken out, an\u00a0international news agency photographer said. It was not immediately clear whether the embassy was empty at the time of the attack or if staff had been evacuated. \u2018Urgent investigation\u2019 Iraq\u2019s foreign ministry condemned the embassy torching and called on security forces to identify those responsible. \u201cThe Iraqi government has instructed the relevant security services to conduct an urgent investigation and take all necessary measures to uncover the circumstances of the incident and identify the perpetrators,\u201d the ministry said in a statement. Swedish media reported that Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, had organised the event in Stockholm on Thursday. Salwan burned a few pages of a copy of the Quran in front of Stockholm\u2019s largest mosque on June 28 during Eid al-Adha, a holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world. That incident prompted supporters of Moqtada, an influential religious leader and political dissident in Iraq, to storm the Swedish embassy in Baghdad the following day. Moqtada has repeatedly mobilised thousands of demonstrators in the streets. In the summer of 2022, his supporters invaded Baghdad\u2019s parliament building and staged a sit-in that lasted several weeks. At the time, Moqtada was involved in a political spat over the appointment of a prime minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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