Sweden stuck on Quran issue, Muslim countries are preparing for big demonstration, embassy also attacked

Muslim-majority countries expressed outrage on Friday at the desecration of a copy of the Quran in Sweden. Some people prepared to protest on the street after the afternoon prayer to show their anger. Demonstrators in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon planned demonstrations after Swedish police gave permission for a protest on Thursday, in which an Iraqi Christian living in Stockholm kicked and burned Islam’s holy book, the Koran, outside the Iraqi embassy. Hours earlier, protesters in Baghdad ransacked the Swedish embassy and set it on fire to show their anger at their threat to burn the book.

attack on swedish embassy

Protesters angered by a plot to burn a copy of the Quran in Sweden stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in the early hours of 20 July, entering the compound and setting light fires. Sweden has said that the embassy has been closed to the public. Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani said the Iraqi administration would punish the arsonists. Meanwhile, in the viral video, protesters are seen at the embassy waving flags and signs carrying pictures of Iraqi Shia cleric and politician Muqtada al-Sadr. It is not clear whether there were any employees inside the premises at the time. In the video, dozens of people are seen climbing over the fence in the compound. In one of the footage, some people were seen sitting in a room in the embassy without wearing shirts.

performance preparation

Protesters in neighboring Iran plan to take to the streets. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdullahian has written a letter to the UN Secretary-General on the desecration of the Quran and summoned the Swedish ambassador. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said that we hold the Swedish government responsible for the consequences of the provocative reactions of the world’s Muslims. Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab countries, summoned Swedish diplomats to condemn the affront. Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry has also criticized it. In Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the incidents in Sweden. He called on the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation to play a “historic role in voicing the sentiments of Muslims and stopping this demonization”.