Iraqis try to protest at Danish Embassy after reports Quran was burned

On July 21, a man in Denmark set fire to a book purported to be the Quran on a square across from the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen.

Iraqi security forces fired tear gas to repel hundreds of protesters as they tried to get to the Danish Embassy in Baghdad early on Saturday after reports a Quran was burned in Denmark, according to a government source and videos on social media.

The incident at Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone happened two days after demonstrators stormed and set alight the Swedish Embassy in protest at a planned burning of the Quran in Stockholm.

Iraq condemned the attack on the Swedish Embassy but also expelled the Swedish ambassador in protest at the planned burning of the Quran, the central text of Islam which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God.

Also Read | Iraq tells Sweden it will cut ties if Quran burned again

On Friday in Denmark, a man set fire to a book purported to be the Quran on a square across from the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen.

The event was livestreamed on the Facebook platform of a group that calls itself "Danish Patriots". The video shows the book burning in a tin foil tray next to the Iraqi flag on the ground, with two onlookers standing and talking next to it.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen condemned it as an act of "stupidity" by a few individuals, telling national broadcaster DR: "It is a disgraceful act to insult the religion of others”.

“This applies to the burning of Qurans and other religious symbols. It has no other purpose than to provoke and create division,” he said. He noted however that burning religious books was not a crime in Denmark.

During Thursday's anti-Islam demonstration in Stockholm, protesters kicked and partially destroyed a book they said was the Quran but left the area after an hour without setting it alight.

The incident prompted Middle Eastern states including Saudi Arabia and Iran to summon Swedish diplomats in protest.

Iran on Saturday urged Denmark and Sweden to take measures to end repeated attacks on the Quran in the Nordic countries, saying Muslims around the world expected the desecration to be stopped.

Quran burnings are permitted in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, which all have legal protections for freedom of speech.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that people who burned the Quran deserved the "most severe punishment" and demanded Sweden hand them over to "the judicial systems of Islamic countries".

'Practical action'

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said: "Iran believes that the Danish government is responsible for preventing insults to the Holy Quran and Islamic sanctities, as well as prosecuting and punishing those committing the insults."

Public opinion in the Islamic world was waiting for "practical action" by the Danish government, Kanaani said in a statement carried by state media.

The Danish foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

Iran, which has delayed the posting of a new ambassador to Sweden, also said it was reciprocally not accepting a new Swedish envoy over the attacks on the Quran.

"In line with the directive of the president (Ebrahim Raisi), their (Sweden) new ambassador will not be accepted and our new ambassador will not be sent to Sweden until effective action is taken by them," Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told state TV.

A Swedish government spokesperson said there was a phone conversation on Friday between the Swedish and Iranian foreign ministers, but declined to give details of what they discussed.

In a statement, the Iraqi presidency called on international organisations and Western governments "to stop incitement and hate practices, whatever their pretexts".

It also warned Iraqis against being drawn into what it described as a "plot of sedition" which it said aimed to show Iraq was unsafe for foreign missions.