Iraq calls on Sweden's ambassador to leave the country

Protesters in front of Sweden's embassy in Iraq. Hadi Mizban / AP 

 

Reactions to the Koran burnings 

Iraq calls on Sweden's ambassador to leave the country  

 

Iraq calls home its top diplomat and calls on Sweden's ambassador to Iraq to leave, writes Reuters.  

 

Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani threatened to cut diplomatic ties with Sweden if Koran burnings are carried out again on Swedish soil. Despite protests from the outside world, the action where Salwan Momika is to burn a Koran outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm is currently underway. 

 

Momika caused great anger in the Muslim world when he burned a Koran outside a mosque in Stockholm in June.  

 

 

Protests outside Sweden's embassy in Iraq. Ali Jabar / AP  

 

Iraq threatens to break ties with Sweden if the Koran is burned  

 

Iraq threatens to break diplomatic ties with Sweden if the Koran is burned again, according to Reuters. The background is that the police have authorized a new Koran burning outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm at 1 pm on Thursday. The statement from the Iraqi government must have come on Wednesday. 

 

The planned Koran burning caused hundreds of people to storm Sweden's embassy in Iraq during the night, something that is condemned by the Swedish Foreign Ministry, which announced that it is calling up Iraq's top diplomat in Stockholm after the incident. 

 

"What has happened is completely unacceptable and the government condemns these attacks in the strongest possible terms," writes Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) in a comment.  

 

Embassy of Sweden in Iraq. Ali Jabar / AP  

 

Sources: Large parts of the embassy in Iraq destroyed  

 

Large parts of Sweden's embassy area in Iraq have been destroyed in the fire, according to information to TT.  

 

Local sources that the news agency spoke with say that about half of the embassy and associated buildings have been damaged by the fire. Riot police and water cannons were deployed to disperse the hundreds of protesters. They had gathered at the embassy in Baghdad to protest against a planned Koran burning in Sweden. During the morning the situation should have calmed down.  

 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated during the morning that no one in the staff was injured and they are safe.