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On 21 May 2023, Ponce <nowomr@protonmail.com> posted some news:u4eiav$20816$1@dont-email.me:



BAGHDAD/STOCKHOLM, July 20 (Reuters) - Iraq expelled the Swedish
ambassador on Thursday in protest at a planned burning of the Koran in Stockholm that had prompted hundreds of protesters to storm and set alight
the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

An Iraqi government statement said Baghdad had also recalled its charge d'affaires in Sweden, and Iraq's state news agency reported that Iraq had suspended the working permit of Sweden's Ericsson on Iraqi soil.

Anti-Islam protesters, one of whom is an Iraqi immigrant to Sweden who
burned the Koran outside a Stockholm mosque in June, had applied for and received permission from Swedish police to burn the Koran outside the
Iraqi embassy on Thursday.

In the event, the protesters kicked and partially destroyed a book they
said was the Koran but left the area after an hour without setting it
alight. The Koran, the central religious text of Islam, is believed by
Muslims to be a revelation from God.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said staff at the Swedish
embassy in Baghdad were safe but Iraqi authorities had failed in their responsibility to protect the embassy.

Late on Thursday, Iran's foreign ministry summoned Sweden's ambassador in Tehran to "strongly protest against the desecration of the holy Koran",
state media reported, while Turkey called events in Stockholm a
"despicable attack".

A Swedish foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed the ambassador was
summoned due to the events in Stockholm but declined to comment on what
was said during the meeting.

The head of Lebanon's powerful armed group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah, called on Arab and Islamic nations to follow Iraq in expelling Sweden's ambassadors and withdrawing their envoys from Sweden.

The Iraqi government condemned the assault on the embassy, according to a statement from the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, which declared it a security breach and vowed to protect diplomatic
missions.

But Baghdad had also "informed the Swedish government ... that any
recurrence of the incident involving the burning of the Holy Koran on
Swedish soil would necessitate severing diplomatic relations", the
statement said.

The decision to recall the charge d'affaires came while the protest in Stockholm had started but before the protesters had left without burning
the Koran.

Billstrom said the storming of the embassy was "completely unacceptable
and the government strongly condemns these attacks". He added: "The
government is in contact with high-level Iraqi representatives to express
our dismay."

In Washington, the State Department condemned the attack on the embassy
and criticised Iraq's security forces for not preventing protesters from breaching the diplomatic post.

The European Union said it looked forward to "swift adoption of the
necessary security measures" by Iraq to prevent further incidents.

Thursday's demonstration was called by supporters of Shi'ite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr to protest at the second planned Koran burning in Sweden
in weeks, according to posts in a Telegram group linked to the influential cleric and other pro-Sadr media.

https://www.reuters.com/world/swedish-embassy-baghdad-stormed-set-alight- source-witness-2023-07-19/

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