Baghdad, Iraq — Demonstrators marched in the Iraqi and Iranian capitals Friday to denounce Sweden’s permission for protests that desecrate the Quran, as Stockholm withdrew staff from its Baghdad embassy.
Hundreds of people gathered in Baghdad’s Sadr City after Friday prayers, chanting “Yes, yes to Islam, yes, yes to the Quran”, an AFP correspondent said.
In Tehran, hundreds of protesters, waving Iranian flags and carrying copies of Islam’s holy book, chanted “Down with the United States, Britain, Israel and Sweden” as some burned the Swedish flag.
The rallies came amid heightened tensions between Stockholm and Baghdad over a Sweden-based Iraqi refugee who last month burnt pages of the Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque.
In the latest such incident on Thursday, the refugee, Salwan Momika, stepped on the Quran but did not burn it, triggering renewed condemnation across the Muslim world.
Sweden on Friday cited security concerns in a decision to relocate embassy staff after protesters stormed its embassy compound in a pre-dawn attack this week.
“The embassy’s operations and its expatriate staff have been temporarily relocated to Stockholm for security reasons,” the Swedish foreign ministry said.
Iraq condemned the embassy attack but also retaliated against the protest in Sweden by expelling its ambassador, vowing to sever ties and suspending the operating license of Swedish telecom giant Ericsson.
“The expulsion of the ambassador is too little, we want more,” said protester Sabbah al-Tai, 45, in Baghdad’s Sadr City working-class district.
Crowds gathered there at the order of influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose followers were behind the embassy raid late Wednesday.
‘Disgraceful’ –
Some protesters burned rainbow flags which Sadr says highlight the “double standard” of Western governments in defending LGBTQ rights while allowing the desecration of religious texts.
“Through this demonstration, we want to send a message to the United Nations,” said Amer Shemal, a municipal official, urging member states to “penalize any desecration of holy books — those of Islam, of Christianity, of Judaism”.
Regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Iran said separately late Thursday they had summoned Swedish diplomats to protest against Stockholm allowing Momika’s actions on free speech grounds.
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, said it would urge “the Swedish authorities to take all immediate and necessary measures to stop these disgraceful acts”, a foreign ministry statement said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke to his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billstrom by phone on Friday, the foreign ministry said.
“The person who committed this unforgivable insult must be arrested, tried, and held accountable for his actions; otherwise, Sweden should wait for the decisive decisions of Islamic countries,” a ministry statement quoted him as saying.
Protesters in Tehran and other Iranian cities including Mashhad, Tabriz and Isfahan heeded a call from authorities for nationwide demonstrations after Friday prayers.
Dozens of mostly black-clad demonstrators gathered outside Sweden’s Tehran embassy amid tight security and demanded its closure and the expulsion of Sweden’s ambassador.
Protesters threw eggs and tomatoes at the building and staged a sit-in before later dispersing, an AFP journalist said.
In Jordan the foreign ministry said it summoned Sweden’s charge d’affaires, calling the Stockholm protest “an expression of a culture of hatred” that “cannot be justified in the context of freedom of expression”.
Oman also voiced its condemnation of “the provocation of the feelings of Muslims and their sanctities, and the incitement to violence and hatred”, according to state news agency ONA.
‘Keep burning’ –
June’s Quran burning, during the Eid al-Adha holiday, had sparked indignation and diplomatic protests across the Muslim world.
In an interview published Friday, Momika — who describes himself as an atheist — defended his actions and said they were meant to highlight discrimination of minority groups in Iraq.
“My book-burning was carried out within the bounds of Swedish law,” he told French magazine Marianne. “I will keep burning rans as long as I am legally allowed to.”
The Swedish foreign minister called Momika’s protest “a clear provocation” that “in no way reflects the Swedish government’s opinions”, while stressing a “constitutional right to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and freedom to demonstrate”.
In Lebanon, the leader of the pro-Iran Hezbollah movement Hassan Nasrallah called for expulsion of the Swedish envoy there and the recall of Lebanon’s ambassador to Sweden.
Hezbollah supporters on Friday rallied across Lebanon, with several hundreds gathering in Beirut’s southern suburbs, AFP photographers said.
They carried copies of the Koran and chanted they would “protect God’s book” with their “blood”.