HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS have attempted to storm Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and the seat of Iraq’s government, following reports of the burning of a Koran carried out by a ultra-nationalist group in Copenhagen.
They were pushed back by security forces, who blocked the Jumhuriya bridge leading to the Green Zone, preventing them from reaching the Danish embassy.
The protest came two days after people angered by the planned burning of the Islamic holy book in Sweden stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad.
Protesters occupied the diplomatic post for several hours, waving flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shia cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, and setting a small fire. The embassy staff had been evacuated a day earlier.
Hours later, Iraq’s prime minister cut diplomatic ties with Sweden in protest over the desecration of the Koran.
An Iraqi asylum-seeker who burned a copy of the Koran during a demonstration last month in Stockholm had threatened to do the same thing again on Thursday but ultimately stopped short of setting fire to the book.
He did, however, kick and step on it, and did the same with an Iraqi flag and a photo of al-Sadr and of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Yesterday afternoon, thousands protested peacefully in Iraq and other Muslim-majority countries.
Also on Friday, according to Danish media reports, members of ultra-nationalist group Danske Patrioter burned a copy of the Koran and an Iraqi flag in front of the Iraqi embassy in Copenhagen and livestreamed the action on Facebook.
The incident prompted the protests in Baghdad overnight.
Chanting in support of al-Sadr and carrying images of the prominent leader and the flag associated with his movement, along with the Iraqi flag, hundreds of protesters attempted to enter the Green Zone and clashed with security forces before dispersing.
In a statement today, the Iraqi ministry of foreign affairs condemned “in strong and repeated terms, the incident of abuse against the Holy Koran and the flag of the Republic of Iraq in front of the Iraqi embassy in Denmark”.
It called the international community “to stand urgently and responsibly towards these atrocities that violate social peace and co-existence around the world”.
Another protest is scheduled to take place in Baghdad at 6pm (4pm GMT).
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say