Islamic nations plan street protests over Quran desecration in Sweden

BAGHDAD: Countries with a significant Muslim population condemned Sweden’s burning of a copy of the Quran on Friday. After midday prayers, several people got ready for street protests to express their discontent.

After Swedish authorities allowed a protest on Thursday in which an Iraqi Christian living in Stockholm stomped and stood on a Quran, Islam’s sacred book, outside of the Iraqi Embassy, demonstrators organised demonstrations in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. Anger at his threats to burn the book was shown by protesters in Baghdad breaking into the Swedish Embassy and setting it on fire hours earlier.

The Swedish ambassador to Iraq has been told to leave, while the Iraqi charge d’affaires has been ordered to leave Sweden, according to Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani of Iraq. However, another demonstration in Baghdad is scheduled for Friday afternoon in case it is not sufficient to appease the enraged.

Demonstrators also intended to go to the streets in neighbouring Iran. Hossein Amirabdollahian, the foreign minister of Iran, has summoned the ambassador of Sweden and submitted a letter to the UN secretary general over the destruction of the Quran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani stated, “We consider the Swedish government to be responsible for the outcome of provocation reactions from the world’s Muslims.”

During his demonstration, the man in Stockholm also used a photo of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to wipe his feet. He then did the same with a photo of Muqtada al-Sadr, a prominent leader of the Shiite community in Iraq.

Hezbollah, a violent Shiite organisation in Lebanon, also urged people to demonstrate on Friday. The biggest backers of Hezbollah are Khamenei and the theocracy in Iran.