Iraqi demonstrators were today repressed by the police when they protested in Baghdad against the burning of copies of the Koran in Europe, after what they consider repeated desecrations of the holy book of Muslims, which was repeated in Denmark.
In Tahir Square, in the center of the Iraqi capital, hundreds of protesters gathered around 1 a.m. (7 p.m. in Argentina), shouting “Yes, yes, to the Koran” and brandishing portraits of the influential Shiite religious leader Muqtada Al Sadr, the AFP news agency reported.
The police had cut off access to the Green Zone – the safest area, which houses government institutions and several embassies – but the protesters tried to gain access by force.
After clashes between police and protesters, security forces managed to disperse them before dawn, according to an Interior Ministry official who asked not to be named.
According to him, the protesters were trying to reach the Danish embassy, after press reports emerged about a desecration of the Koran in Copenhagen, the Danish capital.
The far-right movement Danish Patriots posted video on its Facebook page yesterday of a man burning a book and trampling on an Iraqi flag.
Denmark’s Police Deputy Chief Inspector Trine Fisker confirmed that there was a “very small demonstration” outside the Iraqi embassy and that a book was burned, but could not confirm if it was the Koran.
The official Turkish news agency, Anadolu, specified that the burning took place under police protection and in the presence of representatives of the media, according to the Europa Press news agency.
A day earlier, Sadr supporters torched the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, in response to two recent desecrations of the Koran, the first in late June and the latest the day before yesterday, by an Iraqi refugee, Salwan Momika, 37.
This sparked a diplomatic crisis between Sweden and Iraq, which expelled the Swedish ambassador.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry today condemned in a statement “the desecration of the holy Koran and the Iraqi flag in front of the Iraqi embassy in Denmark.”
“These hateful acts cannot be seen as freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration,” he added.
However, he reaffirmed “his full commitment to the Vienna convention” and assured that “the Iraqi government is responsible for the protection and security of diplomatic delegations.”
“We cannot allow what happened at the embassy of the kingdom of Sweden to be reproduced,” he added.
Iran also condemned the incident in Copenhagen.
“The Danish government is responsible for preventing insults against the Holy Quran and all that is sacred to Islam, and must take legal action to punish those who insult them,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement.
The incidents in Sweden had already sparked a wave of condemnation, with demonstrations yesterday in Iraq, Tehran and Lebanon.
Yesterday, the United Arab Emirates summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires to “strongly condemn the repeated authorizations given by the Swedish government” to meetings during which the Koran was desecrated, according to a statement from Emirati diplomacy.
Tehran decreed yesterday that no Swedish ambassador would be accepted in Iran until Sweden takes “concrete measures” to prevent further desecration of the Koran on its soil.
The Swedish police stated that they had authorized such acts in the name of freedom of assembly, but that this did not mean that they condoned them.
Source: Ambito
