Protesters storm Swedish embassy in Baghdad, set fire over planned Qur’an burning

Thursday's demonstration was called to protest the second planned Quran burning in Sweden in weeks by Shi'ite supporters, after an earlier burning ignited widespread controversy.

Hundreds of protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in central Baghdad in the early hours of Thursday morning, scaling its walls and setting it on fire in protest against the expected burning of a Qur’an in Sweden.

All Baghdad embassy staff were safe, the Swedish foreign ministry press office said in a statement, condemning the attack and highlighting the need for Iraqi authorities to protect diplomatic missions.

Iraq’s foreign ministry also condemned the incident and said in a statement the Iraqi government had instructed security forces to carry out a swift investigation, identify perpetrators and hold them to account.

Thursday’s demonstration was called by supporters of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada Sadr to protest the second planned Qur’an burning in Sweden in weeks, according to posts in a popular Telegram group linked the influential cleric and other pro-Sadr media.

Swedish news agency TT reported on Wednesday that Swedish police granted an application for a public meeting outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on Thursday.

The application says the applicant seeks to burn the Qur’an and the Iraqi flag, TT reported.

Two people were set to participate in the demonstration, according to TT, adding one of the people was the same person who set a Qur’an on fire outside a Stockholm mosque in June.

A series of videos posted to the Telegram group, One Baghdad, showed people gathering around the embassy around 1 a.m. on Thursday (2200 GMT on Wednesday) chanting pro-Sadr slogans.