Several hundred Iraqis demonstrated this Monday, January 23, their disapproval of the gesture of the Dane Rasmus Paludan.
A police officer and seven demonstrators were injured Monday, January 23 in Baghdad during a demonstration organized in front of the Swedish embassy to protest against the burning of a Koran in Stockholm, we learned from a security source. .
The overflows near the embassy
“Between 400 and 500 peoplewere demonstrating outside the Scandinavian country’s diplomatic mission when they tried to advance towards the building, an interior ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
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As the police pushed them back, clashes broke out. “Protesters threw stones and police used their batons“, he added, specifying that seven demonstrators and a policeman had been injured. The demonstrators then dispersed, according to an AFP photographer on the spot.
“No to Sweden, yes to the Koran”
The rally was organized by pro-Iran groups very active in Iraq, a country with a large Muslim majority. Through the slogan “No to Sweden, yes to the Koran“, the protesters heard to give voice, two days after the Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran in Stockholm. He intended to denounce the Swedish negotiations with Turkey on NATO.
The Swedish police had previously considered that the Constitution and the freedoms of demonstration and expression in Sweden did not justify the prohibition of this demonstration in the name of public order. The authorization given to this anti-Islam demonstration sparked a diplomatic incident with Turkey and many other Muslim countries expressed their indignation.
“Burning books that are sacred to many is a deeply disrespectful act. It’s disgusting,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. Evoking an act of “provocation”the manager suggested that it was a will “deliberate to influence the ongoing discussions on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO” and D’“weaken” transatlantic unity.
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