Irak’s embassy in Stockholm is in a residential area north of the city centre, diagonally across from a small park. There, on Thursday, the Iraqi Salwan Momika stood on the grass, surrounded by some counter-demonstrators and police officers. According to reports in Swedish media, he stepped on a Koran, after which he wiped his shoes with an image of the Iraqi flag. Counter-demonstrators booed him, then Momika left the scene again. It remained unclear whether he had also set fire to the Koran, as announced.
But the mere announcement of the action exposed Swedish-Iraqi relations to a new endurance test. Clashes erupted outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in the hours before dawn. As at the end of June, when the Iraqi Christian staged the burning of the Koran, a mob of hundreds of people stormed the site and this time also set fire. Videos circulating on the internet showed clouds of dark smoke over the site. They also showed that the security forces used water cannons to disperse the crowds. Arson was cloaked as “a message of protest against the act of burning God’s Holy Book.” The embassy staff, the Swedish government announced in the morning, was safe.
Sweden criticizes the lack of protection of its embassy
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström reacted with clear criticism. The storming of the embassy in Baghdad was “completely unacceptable” and the government strongly condemned the attacks, he said. Iraqi authorities have a “clear obligation” to protect diplomatic missions and diplomatic personnel under the Vienna Convention. And he announced that he would summon the Iraqi ambassador to Sweden.
The government in Baghdad also condemned the attack. The State Department said the government had ordered an investigation. The security forces were instructed to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. According to official information, those functionaries in the security authorities who have not fulfilled their duty should also be held accountable. At the same time, Baghdad made it clear that it would not accept another provocation by means of a burning operation. On Thursday afternoon, the Iraqi government asked the Swedish ambassador to leave the country, at the same time recalling its diplomats from Sweden. She also announced economic retaliation.
The burning of the Koran in Momika in June had already been sharply criticized by the Iraqi leadership as an act by people with “sick brains”. Demands were made from the judiciary to obtain the extradition of the Iraqi refugee and to bring him to justice. The fact that an Iraqi flag was also involved makes the matter even more serious for Baghdad. American flags are burned time and again in Iraq when anti-American protests take place. But such an insult to the flag is viewed as an attack by large sections of the population filled with national pride.
Who is the man who wanted to burn the Koran?
The man who was behind the protests that had led to a storming of the Swedish embassy at the end of June had risen to become the anticipatory avenger of injured religious feelings: the Shiite populist, preacher and militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr. Appropriate protest calls had been spread via messenger services before the attack on Thursday. And Sadr is notorious for being able to quickly mobilize a violent crowd. The preacher likes to move demonstrations of power to the streets. At the end of June he demanded that the Swedish ambassador be expelled from the country. This represents a country that is “hostile to Islam,” Sadr said.
#Announced #burning #Koran #Iraq #Sweden #odds