Security Tightened at Swedish Embassy, Al-Sadr Supporters Urged to Exercise Restraint
Shafaq News/ Security measures have been significantly intensified around the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday after al-Sadr's supporters stormed the embassy in Baghdad, successfully breaking through the embassy's gate.
The demonstration came after Swedish police gave Salwan Momika, an Iraqi living in Sweden, a protest permit under free-speech laws. But later, police said the incident was being investigated for incitement of hatred.
Momika set fire to a copy of the Quran before Stockholm's central mosque.
According to a security source, concrete blocks have sealed the entrances leading to the Swedish embassy building.
The source said approximately 200 security personnel had been deployed at these entrances as a precautionary measure.
He revealed that security authorities had instructed to implement heightened security measures, anticipating potential clashes between protesters from the Sadrist movement and their rivals from the Shiite Coordination Framework.
In the same context, Saleh Muhammad al-Iraqi, a figure close to leader Muqtada al-Sadr, called on the Sadrist's supporters to refrain from repeating the storming of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. This comes as preparations are underway for a demonstration in front of the embassy headquarters to protest the burning of a copy of the Qur'an in Stockholm.
Al-Iraqi stated, "The message of the spontaneous incursion has been delivered, and there is no need for it to be repeated."
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to express strong protest over burning a copy of the Holy Qur'an.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Ahmed Al-Sahhaf, stated that the Swedish government had been requested to take "immediate and necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents that insult the Holy Quran."
Al-Sahhaf emphasized that while legal justifications and freedom of expression are respected, they "should not be used to justify insults to religious sanctities."
