Several thousand demonstrators gathered again near the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Friday June 30 to protest against the burning of a Koran by an Iraqi in Stockholm, an act which raised outrage around the world Muslim. During a first demonstration on Thursday, supporters of the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr briefly entered the Swedish representation in Baghdad, before leaving in peace.
They were protesting against the act of Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, who burned a few pages of a copy of the Koran on Wednesday in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm and during Eid-el-Kébir, a holiday celebrated by the Muslims around the world. This event had been authorized by the Swedish police in the name of freedom of expression.
On Friday, still at the call of Moqtada Al-Sadr, there were several thousand to demonstrate on an avenue in Baghdad near the Swedish embassy, according to a journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP) on the spot. The street of the embassy had been closed with concrete blocks by the police in anticipation of the mobilization. The demonstrators castigated the act of Salwan Momika, but also the decision of Sweden to have authorized it.
A religious sheikh read on a platform an address written by Moqtada Al-Sadr who considered that “Burning the Koran is an incitement to hatred” against millions of Muslims and who denounced the policy of the ” Two weights, two measures “ of the West and “those who demand democracy and freedom of expression”.
“An insult to the Holy Quran”
“It’s an insult to the Holy Quran”Nafia Wali Idriss, a 47-year-old civil servant, told AFP. “Free speech should not open the door to bigotry. » Rainbow flags, a symbol of the LGBTQIA+ community, and portraits of Mr Momika taken during his act on Wednesday were trampled on, in response to Moqtada Al-Sadr’s call for it “the best way to provoke” those who support or defend the burning of the Quran.
“No to homosexuality!” Yes to the Quran! »chanted the demonstrators who then burned the rainbow flags.
In Basra, a large city in southern Iraq, a similar demonstration by supporters of Moqtada Al-Sadr brought together a few hundred people, according to an AFP photographer. The Iraqi government, of which Moqtada Al-Sadradr is not a member, strongly condemned Salwan Momika’s act and called for his extradition to Iraq for trial.
Sweden’s ambassador to Baghdad, Jessica Svärdström, was summoned by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Thursday evening to “inform him of the strong protest” of Iraq concerning the authorization given to “extremists”, by his country, to burn the Koran.
The World App
The Morning of the World
Every morning, find our selection of 20 articles not to be missed
Download the app
Questioned on Friday before the demonstration, Hakim Al-Zamili, an official of the movement of Moqtada Al-Sadr, estimated that this summons ” not enough “. “We need more concrete measures”, he said. In neighboring Iran, a few dozen demonstrators protested outside the Swedish embassy in Tehran after Friday prayers, according to AFP journalists.
In Sweden, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson distanced himself from the book burning on Friday, assuring that there was no “no reason to insult other people”. Salwan Momika meanwhile declared that he intended to renew his gesture in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, within ten days.