Islamists assault Swedish embassy in Baghdad, towards deliberate burning of Quran in Sweden

Tensions have escalated in Iraq’s Baghdad the place a number of protesters stormed the Swedish embassy early on twentieth July and set it ablaze in a violent response to a different deliberate burning of Quran. This comes following a report from a Swedish information company saying that the Swedish police had authorised a Quran and Iraqi flag-burning protest exterior the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm.

The approval comes merely two weeks after a person staged an indication by burning the Quran exterior a mosque in Stockholm sparking anger amongst Islamists in Pakistan and in Iraq too. Several movies of the Islamists breaching the embassy on Thursday have gone viral on social media.

One video reveals enraged protesters, largely comprising of males wearing black, on the embassy compound chanting, taking to the embassy’s balcony, and waving flags. A person, seemingly recording the video, might be heard giving an indignant speech within the native language.

NOW – Swedish embassy in #Baghdad set on hearth. pic.twitter.com/J33GKJlbkr

— Disclose.television (@disclosetv) July 20, 2023

Another video reveals related scenes with protesters nonetheless trying to go additional contained in the embassy, waving flags from the balcony, flames erupting from a window and smoke billowing from different components.

Rioters are at present Storming and have set Fire to the Swedish Embassy within the Iraqi Capital of Baghdad. pic.twitter.com/SUDGCP2W4V

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 20, 2023

A 3rd video from contained in the constructing now reveals the whole violation of the embassy grounds. In the video, amid the background refrain of protesters sloganeering, a person might be heard shouting what feels like “Ya Hadi” an expression searching for Allah’s steerage.

Armed protesters might be seen crowding the steps, and the foyer space.

Hundreds of individuals stormed Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad, Iraq and burned it down yesterday after one other Quran was burnt in Sweden.

Sweden’s NATO membership nonetheless hasn’t been ratified by Turkey.

The turmoil is placing the membership in peril. pic.twitter.com/ebDBpwpGrI

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 20, 2023

Iraqi riot police used water cannons to disperse a whole bunch of protesters who breached the partitions of the Swedish consulate in central Baghdad. Security forces geared up with electrical batons tried to ward off the protesters from the embassy, AFP reported.

#UPDATE Iraqi riot police have used water cannon to disperse protesters from Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad, an @AFP photographer says, after the constructing was set on hearth in protest of a deliberate Koran burning in Stockholm.

Security forces armed with electrical batons are chasing… pic.twitter.com/JDvQw4ifqh

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 20, 2023

The Swedish Foreign Ministry has reportedly stated that its embassy employees in Baghdad are protected. “We condemn all attacks on diplomats and staff from international organizations,” the ministry stated. “Attacks on embassies and diplomats constitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention. Iraqi authorities have the responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and diplomatic staff.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq issued an announcement condemning the burning of the Swedish embassy calling it an “assault on diplomatic missions and threatening their security”.

تُؤَكِّدُ الوزارة إنَّ الحكومةَ العراقيَّة أوعزت إلى الجهات الأمنيَّة المُختصَّة، بالتحقيق العاجل وإتخاذ الإجراءات الأمنيَّة اللازمة بهدف كشف ملابسات الحادثة والتعرُّف على هُويةِ مرتكبي هذا الفعل ومحاسبتهم وفق القانون.

وزارة الخارجيَّة
بغداد
2023/7/20

— وزارة الخارجية العراقية (@Iraqimofa) July 20, 2023

The assertion posted on Twitter learn, “The Ministry confirms that 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 protests have been reportedly referred to as by supporters of the influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr who is thought to have given calls to his supporters previously to take to the streets in protest.

On twenty ninth June, an identical protest in Iraq noticed an Islamist mob breaching the Swedish embassy towards the burning of the Quran by an ex-Muslim Iraqi refugee Salwa Momika residing in Sweden. Hundreds of Moqtada Sadr’s followers broke into the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. Moqtada Sadr is a firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric. After about quarter-hour of heated protests, the gathering of Muslims began to disperse as tight safety was put in place. The Quran was burnt in Sweden on June 28.

The protesting Muslims’ pamphlets had the phrase, “Our constitution is the Quran.” “Yes, yes to the Quran,” was one other assertion spray-painted on the embassy compound’s gate.