Several thousand demonstrators gathered again near the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Friday to protest against the burning of a Koran by an Iraqi in Stockholm, an act which raised outrage in the Muslim world.
During a first demonstration on Thursday, supporters of the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr had briefly entered the Swedish representation in Baghdad, before coming out in peace.
They were protesting against the act of Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, who on Wednesday burned a few pages of a copy of the Koran in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm and during Eid al-Adha, a holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide.
This event had been authorized by the Swedish police in the name of freedom of expression.
On Friday, still at the call of Moqtada Sadr, there were several thousand to demonstrate on an avenue in Baghdad near the Swedish embassy, ??according to an AFP journalist 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 from a dais an address written by Moqtada Sadr who said ‘burning the Koran is an incitement to hatred’ against millions of Muslims and denounced the West’s ‘double standards’ policy and “those who demand democracy and freedom of expression”.
“It’s an insult to the Holy Quran,” Nafia Wali Idriss, a 47-year-old civil servant, told AFP. “Freedom of expression must not open the door to bigotry”.
Rainbow flags, symbol of the LGBT community, and portraits of Mr. Momika taken during his act on Wednesday were trampled, in response to the call of Moqtada Sadr who sees it as “the best way to provoke” those who support or defend the burning of the Quran.
“No to homosexuality! Yes to the Koran!”, chanted the demonstrators who then burned the rainbow flags.
In Basra, a large city in southern Iraq, a similar demonstration by supporters of Moqtada Sadr brought together a few hundred people, according to an AFP photographer.
The Iraqi government, of which Moqtada Sadr 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 Foreign Ministry on Thursday evening to “inform her of Iraq’s strong protest” over her country’s permission for “extremists” to burn the Koran.
Asked Friday before the demonstration, Hakim al-Zamili, a leader of the movement of Moqtada Sadr, considered that this summons “is 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 burning on Friday, assuring that there was “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.
30/06/2023 19:09:09 – Baghdad (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
