Danish right-wing extremist video
Hundreds of Iraqis protest in Baghdad
07/22/2023, 3:10 p.m
Many Iraqis have been protesting against the desecration of the Koran in Scandinavia for weeks – the highlight is the storming of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. Now hundreds are taking to the streets again after seeing a video of right-wing extremists in Denmark.
After an alleged desecration of the Koran in Denmark, hundreds of people protested again, some violently, in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. In the early hours of the morning, supporters of the influential Shiite leader Moktada Sadr tried to penetrate the city’s so-called Green Zone, which houses embassies and government and parliament buildings. Security forces pushed back the protesters.
A video was previously published on the Facebook page of a far-right Danish organization in which a man appeared to be burning a copy of the Koran and an Iraqi flag. According to a representative of the Iraqi interior ministry, the demonstrators in Baghdad apparently wanted to storm the Danish embassy. On the night of Thursday, demonstrators stormed the Swedish embassy in Stockholm after the Koran had been desecrated and partly set it on fire.
After the video was released from Denmark, hundreds of people, mostly young men, gathered in central Tahrir Square late Friday night, according to an AFP photographer. They chanted slogans like “Yes to the Koran” and some of them held up photos of Shia leader Sadr. The demonstrators later attempted to cross a bridge to the Green Zone that was blocked by Iraqi security forces. Then there were clashes. According to the Ministry of the Interior, however, it was possible to dissolve the meeting before dawn.
Burned Koran, stepped on Iraqi flag
The protests were triggered by a Facebook post by the far-right Danish organization Danske Patrioter: It showed a video of what appeared to be a man burning a copy of the Koran and stepping on an Iraqi flag. The police later confirmed to Danish media that a book had been burned in front of the Iraqi embassy in Copenhagen – but they could not say whether it was the Koran.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry earlier this morning condemned the “desecration of the Holy Koran and the Iraqi flag.” At the same time, it assured the protection of the embassy. The country will “not allow what happened to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden to be repeated.” In the past few days, both Sweden and the United States have criticized Baghdad for the inadequate protection of the Swedish embassy.