Iraqis storm Swedish embassy to protest Quran desecration

Scores of Iraqi protesters have stormed the yard of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad to express their outrage at allowing an extremist to desecrate the holy Quran in Stockholm on Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha.

According to the local daily Baghdad Today, the protesters were able to break open the embassy's gate and enter the compound on Thursday.

The protesters were told to leave the embassy shortly after breaking in, the media outlet added.

Protesters also stomped on and burned a banner with the LGBTQ flag outside the Swedish embassy.

The Arabic language state-run Sweden radio channel reported that all embassy staff are safe.

The Iraqi official news agency INA reported that the protesters raised copies of the Quran "to confirm Muslims' pride in the Holy Quran and to reject the disgraceful act that took place in the Swedish capital after the government authorised" burning a copy of the holy Quran.

The news agency added that the protesters were organised in response to a call by powerful cleric Muqtada al Sadr.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry also summoned Sweden's ambassador.

In a newspaper interview, the extremist in Sweden described himself as an Iraqi refugee seeking to ban it.

The Iraqi ministry said he was Iraqi and urged the Swedish government to hand him over so he could be tried in accordance with Iraqi law.

"The [Swedish] ambassador should go and ... the embassy should not stay in Iraq at all ...," protester Moamal Abbas said.

Anger at Sweden permitting desecration

On Wednesday, an extremist burned a copy of the Muslim holy book under police protection in front of the Stockholm Mosque.

The extremist's provocative act was timed to coincide with Eid al Adha, one of the major Islamic religious festivals celebrated by Muslims worldwide.

Swedish police had granted him a permit in line with free-speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over "agitation" after Türkiye voiced its outrage followed by many Muslim countries.

The "crime" of burning a Quran copy elicited widespread condemnation from the Islamic world, including Türkiye, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Senegal, Morocco, and Mauritania.

NATO bid

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Sweden for allowing a protest, further clouding the Nordic nation's chances of quickly joining NATO.

"We will eventually teach the arrogant Westerners that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought," Erdogan said in televised remarks.

Saudi Arabia, which hosted around 1.8 million Hajj pilgrims, denounced the Quran burning, with the foreign ministry calling it part of "hateful and repeated attacks" on Islam.

The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation [OIC] said it would hold an "emergency meeting" to discuss the situation.

Iran joined in the condemnation, with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian saying the Quran burning was an "insult" against "religious sanctities".

"Calling these behaviours freedom and democracy only encourage terrorism and extremism," he warned in a tweet.

Egypt called the Quran burning a "disgraceful act provoking the feelings of Muslims" as they mark Eid, while the Cairo-based Arab League branded it an "assault on the core of our Islamic faith".

The United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Swedish ambassador and "stressed that Sweden disregarded its international responsibilities and demonstrated a lack of respect for social values".

Kuwait said perpetrators of "hostile acts" must be brought to justice and "prevented from using the principle of freedoms as a ploy to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith".

"This new offensive and irresponsible act disregards the feelings of more than a billion Muslims," the emirate said. Bahrain said that "insulting religions is inconsistent with religious freedom... and generates hatred, extremism and violence".

Libya's Foreign Ministry said such action "contradicts international efforts aimed at bolstering tolerance and moderation, and rejecting all forms of extremism".

In neighbouring Tunisia, the Foreign Ministry denounced an "odious crime", while Morocco summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires in Rabat and recalled its ambassador over "these repeated provocations, committed under the complacent gaze of the Swedish government".

Palestine's Foreign Ministry denounced a "flagrant attack on human rights, values of tolerance, acceptance of others, democracy and peaceful coexistence".

Further afield, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said it "strongly condemns the despicable act", while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was "disgusted and appalled" by the Quran burning in front of a mosque.

"I have no words to adequately condemn this anti-Islam act, which is clearly meant to hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world," Sharif said.

Afghanistan's Taliban government also reacted angrily, labelling the Quran burning an act of "utter contempt towards this noble religion".

The United States also condemned it, but added that issuing the permit supported freedom of expression and was not an endorsement of the action.