2023-07-22 15:41:01
New mobilization to protest against desecrations of the Koran in Denmark, after a burning in Sweden. Iraqi security forces dispersed hundreds of supporters of Moqtada Sadr early this Saturday, who demonstrated in Baghdad before trying to join the ultra-secure Green Zone, a secure neighborhood housing government institutions and embassies.
The nocturnal demonstration was prompted by press reports which seem to point to a desecration of the Koran in Denmark. On its Facebook page, the far-right Danske Patrioter movement posted a video on Friday of a man burning what appears to be a Koran and stomping on an Iraqi flag.
Contacted this Saturday by AFP, the deputy chief inspector of the Copenhagen police Trine Fisker, “confirmed a very small demonstration yesterday in front of the Iraqi embassy: I can also confirm that a book was burned, we do not know what book it was “.
The Danish embassy in the sights of the demonstrators
In response, several hundred protesters gathered in the center of the Iraqi capital after 1 a.m. (2200 GMT) in Tahrir Square. According to an AFP photographer, they were most often young men, chanting “Yes, yes to the Koran” and some of them brandishing portraits of the influential religious leader Moqtada Sadr.
Security forces had cut two bridges leading to the Green Zone, but the protesters, around a thousand, tried to force their way through and clashes broke out when they were repelled and finally dispersed before dawn, an official at the Interior Ministry confirmed to AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to him, the demonstrators were trying to rally the Danish embassy.
In an attempt to get there, a handful of demonstrators managed to cross an entrance to the Green Zone, but the security forces forced them to retreat, using batons and tear gas, according to another security source, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
For several days, the impetuous religious leader Moqtada Sadr has been blowing on the embers, against a backdrop of regional diplomatic tensions. After two authorized events in Stockholm in which the Koran was desecrated by Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, the Swedish embassy in Baghdad was set on fire on Thursday by Sadrist protesters, the Iraqi government announced the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador and regional condemnations followed.
Chain sentences
Early Saturday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemned in a statement “the desecration of the Holy Quran and the Iraqi flag in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Denmark”. “These actions provoke reactions and put all parties in delicate situations,” he warned.
However, the ministry reaffirms “its full commitment to the Vienna Convention”, ensuring that “the Iraqi government guarantees the protection and security provided to diplomatic teams”. “We cannot allow what happened with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden to happen again,” he insisted.
Iran also condemned the incident in Copenhagen. “From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Danish government is responsible when it comes to preventing insults to the Holy Quran and all that is sacred in Islam, and should take legal action to punish those who insult them,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has asked Sweden to deliver Salwan Momika “to the justice of Islamic countries”.
For their part, the Swedish police said they authorized Salwan Momika’s rallies in the name of freedom of assembly, assuring that this did not mean that they approved. These events had led to a wave of demonstrations on Friday in Iraq, Tehran and Lebanon.
On Saturday, Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rachid called on “Western governments” to stop “provocations” and “the spread of hatred”. “Political forces in Iraq have the right to express their anger (…) without this causing harm to our state”, he stressed. On Thursday, Paris condemned the attack on the Swedish embassy during the demonstration organized by supporters of religious leader Moqtada Sadr.
A potential “escalation” to come
Follower of the blows, the Iraqi Moqtada Sadr has several times demonstrated his ability to mobilize thousands of demonstrators. In the summer of 2022, his supporters invaded the parliament in Baghdad and instituted a sit-in. He was then in the midst of a showdown with the opposing political camp over the appointment of a Prime Minister.
Saturday, the troublemaker of Iraqi politics again condemned the profanations of the Koran, retaining all the ambiguity on the continuation of his mobilization. “Words no longer serve any purpose…religion is seen as strange and its defenders as dubious individuals,” he tweeted.
Thursday evening, he called the fire at the Swedish embassy “a spontaneous and popular act”, warning of a potential “escalation” to come “if ever were to be repeated” such desecrations of the Koran.
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