Protesters set fire to Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad in response to a planned Koran burning in Sweden, organized by supporters of religious leader Moqtada Sadr. 

Protesters set fire to Sweden’s embassy in Iraqi Baghdad early Thursday, ahead of a planned burning of a Koran in Sweden.

Swedish authorities approved an assembly to be held later Thursday outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where organizers plan to burn a copy of the Koran and an Iraqi flag.

Iraqis have been angered by events in Sweden, and Thursday’s protest in Baghdad was organized by supporters of the turbulent religious leader Moqtada Sadr.

A supporter of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr holds a copy of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, as he and others gather for a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on July 20, 2023. (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Iraqi riot police fired water cannon to disperse demonstrators away from the embassy while security forces armed with electric batons chased protesters, an AFP photographer said.

Some protesters had raised copies of the Koran into the air, while others held portraits of Mohamed al-Sadr, an important religious cleric and the father of Moqtada Sadr.

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry declared its embassy staff in Baghdad were “safe” following the incident.

“The Iraqi authorities are responsible for the protection of diplomatic missions and their staff,” the ministry said, adding that attacks on embassies and diplomats “constitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention.”

Several trucks to extinguish the fire had arrived at the embassy, where skirmishes between Iraqi security forces and demonstrators had broken out, an AFP photographer said.

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gather for a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

It was not immediately clear whether the embassy was empty at the time of the attack or if staff had been evacuated.

Iraq’s foreign ministry condemned the embassy torching and called on security forces to identify those responsible.

Swedish media reported that Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, had organized the event in Stockholm on Thursday.

Salwan burned a few pages of a copy of the Koran in front of Stockholm’s 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.

Miroslava Salazar and Lyne Sammouri, with AFP