Burnings of the Islamic holy book, the Quran, have become more and more common in Sweden and have led to a major backlash from parts of the Islamic world, including calls for boycotts of Swedish goods from major influential figures.
This week, police in Stockholm granted permission for yet another burning of the Quran that took place outside of the Iraqi embassy in the Swedish capital by Iraqi migrant Salwan Momika.
The night prior to the demonstration, which did not see the Quran set on fire but simply stomped on by Momika, an angered mob stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set fire to the embassy building, the newspaper Expressen reports.
Iraqi riot police were later able to disperse the mob using water cannons along with security personnel armed with electric batons.
The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that none of the embassy staff had been harmed as a result of the attack and added, “We condemn all attacks on diplomats and staff of international organizations. The Iraqi authorities are responsible for protecting diplomatic missions and personnel.”
Foreign Minister Tobias Billström also commented on the attack saying, “The attacks against the Swedish embassy in Iraq are completely unacceptable. It is the second time in a short time that this has happened. Iraq has a responsibility to protect Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad. The government will today summon Iraq’s top diplomat in Sweden.”
Iraq’s top diplomat in Sweden, Pewan Jasim Ibrahim, was summoned on Thursday, July 20th, and while Iraq’s Foreign Ministry condemned the actions of the embassy attackers, Iraqi president Abdullatif Rashid later stated, “It looks like Sweden is responsible for what is happening.”
Following the Quran protest, Iraq has moved to withdraw work permits from the Swedish telecom company Ericsson, which was previously accused of giving money to the Islamic State terror group during the Islamic extremists’ occupation of certain areas of Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudan also announced that the protest could lead to a break in diplomatic relations, saying, “The Iraqi government has informed the Swedish government through diplomatic channels that any recurring incident involving the burning of the Holy Quran on Swedish soil would lead to the breaking of diplomatic relations.”
Iraq has since ordered its top diplomat to leave Sweden and ordered Swedish Ambassador to Iraq Jessica Svärdström to leave the country.
The man behind the storming of the Swedish embassy is believed to be Shia firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Pictures of his father Mohamed Al-Sadr were seen being carried by some of the attackers.
It would not be the first time Al-Sadr has called for protests at the Swedish embassy in recent weeks as a similar event took place on June 29th and saw a mob storm the embassy. At that time, the protesters were only there for around 15 minutes before they were repelled by security forces.
Al-Sadr has been a major influential figure in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein. Last year, his supporters stormed the Iraqi parliament twice in the span of a week to occupy the building and prevent the nomination of a new Prime Minister.
While a Shia Muslim cleric, Al-Sadr is outspokenly anti-Iran and has condemned the Iranian regime’s attempts to intervene in Iraqi domestic politics.
The growing tensions between Sweden and Iraq come after several other Quran-burning protests that have invoked anger from countries like Turkey, which only recently decided to agree to support Sweden’s entry into the NATO military alliance.
Previously, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had demanded that Sweden outlaw the burning of the Quran in order to gain Turkish approval to join NATO.
“As long as you allow my holy book, the Quran, to be burned and torn apart, we will not say yes to your entry into NATO. Our view of Finland is positive, but not of Sweden,” Erdoğan said earlier this year.
Other major influential figures in the Islamic world have also condemned the Swedes, including the al-Azhar University in Cairo, one of the centres of Sunni Islamic thought, which called for Muslims to boycott Swedish goods earlier this year.
