Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter |
Hundreds of protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in the capital Baghdad and blazed a fire on the building in response to the second burning of Quran on Thursday.
The violence on the Swedish embassy took place at the early hours of July 20.
The footages circling on social media showed the embassy in flames and people carrying pieces of building in their hands.
As per Al Jazeera news, the demonstrators protesting at the embassy waved flags and signs that showed the influential Iraqi Shia religious and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
According to news reports and social media information, the Iraqi police used water cannon to disperse the protestors gathered around the building of the Swedish embassy.
“All embassy staff are safe,” “Iraqi authorities must ensure the protection of diplomatic missions.” said the Swedish Foreign Ministry.
Thursday’s demonstration was called by supporters of SHI’ITE cleric Muqtada Sadr, one of Iraq’s most powerful figures, commands hundreds of thousands of followers.
On July 19, the Swedish News agency TT reported that local police granted permission for a public meeting outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on Thursday.
Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, had organized the planned burning of Quran that he confirmed on his Facebook page reported by the Swedish media.
Salwan Momika is the person who burned pages of Quran on June28, at the very first day of Eid Al Adha(Islamic festival) outside the central mosque in Stockholm that created anger across the Islamic world and drawn condemnation from the Swedish authorities.
"What happened is totally unacceptable and the government condemns these attacks in the strongest possible terms," said Tobias Billström the minister of Swedish foreign ministry.
Iraq’s Foreign ministry strongly condemned the attack and issued a statement on Twitter saying “it condemns in the strongest terms” the burning of the embassy and that the government had instructed the security authorities to conduct “an urgent investigation” and to take security measures in order to “identify the perpetrators of this act and hold them accountable according to the law.”
