Baghdad decides to expel Swedish ambassador
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Baghdad decided to expel the Swedish ambassador from Iraq and recall the country’s charge d’affaires in Stockholm, transmits Reuters.
Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani warned of the possibility of severing diplomatic relations with Sweden if the action with the burning of the Koran is repeated in Stockholm, wrote INA agency.
On the morning of July 20 in Baghdad started mass protests near the building of the Swedish embassy. CNN reported that the demonstrators broke into the building of the diplomatic mission and set it on fire. The video, which was published by eyewitnesses on social networks, showed a large crowd of people near the embassy building, a black column of smoke and fire. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has already condemned the arson attack on the embassy building.
The reason for the protest was another police permit to hold a rally with the burning of the Koran, which was issued on July 19. As a spokesman for the Stockholm police told AFP, the police did indeed give permission for a public gathering near the Iraqi embassy in Sweden, but did not specify the demonstrators’ plans. According to media reports, in a letter, the protesters explained in a letter that they would like to burn the Koran and the Iraqi flag, Al Arabiya reports.
This is not the first protest at the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. On June 28, the day of the celebration of Eid al-Adha, an immigrant from Iraq, Salvan Momika, held an action with the burning of the Koran on Medborjarplatsen Square in the center of Stockholm. This action was coordinated with the police. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson considered the permission for this action legal but inappropriate. According to Reuters, the Swedish police rejected several applications for demonstrations against the Koran, but the courts overturned these decisions, citing a violation of freedom of speech. The next day, demonstrators broke into the territory of the Swedish embassy. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry demanded that the Swedish authorities extradite the organizer of the rally.
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