By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Swedish embassy seconded staff in Baghdad have been temporarily withdrawn over security concerns after Iraqi demonstrators stormed the building, protecting the burning of Koran in Sweden’s capital, Swedish authorities announced on Friday.
Iraq had expelled the Swedish ambassador on Thursday and recalled its charge d’affaires in Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, in protest at what they call planned attack and desecration of the Koran, a situation that had prompted hundreds of protesters to vandalise the embassy in the Iraqi capital.
A Swedish foreign ministry spokesperson said seconded staff and operations had been relocated to Stockholm, but declined to give further details.
At an event in Stockholm on Thursday, two protesters kicked and partially destroyed a book they said was the Koran but did not set it alight.
If the burning had gone ahead, it would have been the second such burning in Sweden in weeks.
The Koran, the central religious text of Islam, is believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God.
Demonstrators on Friday took to the streets of Beirut and Baghdad to protest against what they condemned as the desecration of the Koran in Sweden.
In Baghdad, dozens of people on Friday carried copies of the Koran and portraits of the Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a demonstration.
Sadr, whose supporters had called the protest during which the Swedish embassy was stormed on Thursday, told a press conference on Thursday he would not escalate unless a similar event happens again.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom on Thursday said that the storming of the embassy was “completely unacceptable” and later also that the government strongly rejected desecrations of the Koran or any other holy scripture.
“The Swedish Government understands that the despicable acts committed by individuals at demonstrations in Sweden may be offensive to Muslims,” he said in a statement.
Also late on Thursday, Saudi Arabia joined a string of Middle Eastern countries in summoning Swedish diplomats over the event earlier in the day in Stockholm.
Sweden has seen several Koran burnings in recent years, mostly by far-right and anti-Muslim activists.
