Quran-burning protests intensify
Hundreds of demonstrators try to storm Iraq’s Green Zone
BAGHDAD — Tensions flared again Saturday in Iraq over a series of recent protests in Europe involving the desecration of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, which sparked a debate over the balance between freedom of speech and religious sensitivities.
Hundreds of protesters attempted to storm Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone that houses foreign embassies and the seat of Iraq’s government early Saturday, after reports that an ultranationalist group burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Iraqi Embassy in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, the previous day.
Security forces Saturday pushed back the protesters, who blocked the Jumhuriya bridge leading to the Green Zone, preventing them from reaching the Danish Embassy.
Elsewhere in Iraq, protesters burned three caravans belonging to a demining project run by the Danish Refugee Council in the city of Basra in the south, local police said in a statement. The fire was extinguished by civil defense responders, and there were “no human casualties, only material losses,” the statement said.
The council confirmed in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that its premises in Basra “came under armed attack” early Saturday.
Iraq’s prime minister has cut diplomatic ties with Sweden in protest over the desecration of the Quran in that country.
The right to hold public demonstrations is protected by the constitution in Sweden, and blasphemy laws were abandoned in the 1970s. Police generally give permission based on whether they believe a public gathering can be held without major disruptions or safety risks.
The incident prompted the protests in Baghdad overnight.
Later, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the international community “to stand urgently and responsibly toward these atrocities that violate social peace and coexistence around the world,” the statement read.
The ministry also summoned the Danish ambassador to Tehran, Jesper Vahr, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. The report said Vahr was told Iran believes that if the Danish government had acted effectively, “we would not have witnessed such a blasphemous act today.”
On Saturday evening, more than a thousand protesters gathered again in central Baghdad but did not attempt to storm the Green Zone for a second time. They burned Swedish and LGBTQ+ flags and chanted against the United States, Israel, Sweden and Denmark before dispersing peacefully after a couple of hours.