Protesters Attempt to Storm Baghdad’s Inexperienced Zone Over the Burning of Quran and Iraqi Flag in Denmark

BAGHDAD (AP) — Lots of of protesters tried to storm Baghdad’s closely fortified Inexperienced Zone, which homes international embassies and the seat of Iraq’s authorities, early Saturday following reviews of the burning of a Quran carried out by a ultranationalist group in entrance of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen.

They had been pushed again by safety forces, who blocked the Jumhuriya bridge resulting in the Inexperienced Zone, stopping them from reaching the Danish Embassy.

The protest got here two days after folks angered by the deliberate burning of the Islamic holy e-book in Sweden stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. Protesters occupied the diplomatic put up for a number of hours, waving flags and indicators exhibiting the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political chief Muqtada al-Sadr, and setting a small fireplace. The embassy workers had been evacuated a day earlier.

Hours later, Iraq’s prime minister lower diplomatic ties with Sweden in protest over the desecration of the Quran.

An Iraqi asylum-seeker who burned a replica of the Quran throughout a demonstration last month in Stockholm had threatened to do the identical factor once more Thursday however in the end stopped in need of setting fireplace to the e-book. He did, nevertheless, kick and step on it, and did the identical with an Iraqi flag and a photograph of Sadr and of Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

On Friday afternoon, 1000’s protested peacefully in Iraq and different Muslim-majority nations.

Additionally on Friday, in response to Danish media reviews, members of ultranationalist group Danske Patrioter burned a replica of the Quran and an Iraqi flag in entrance of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen and livestreamed the motion on Fb.

The incident prompted the protests in Baghdad in a single day. Chanting in assist of Sadr and carrying photos of the outstanding chief and the flag related together with his motion, together with the Iraqi flag, tons of of protesters tried to enter the Inexperienced Zone and clashed with safety forces earlier than dispersing.

In an announcement on Saturday, the Iraqi Ministry of International Affairs condemned “in robust and repeated phrases, the incident of abuse towards the Holy Quran and the flag of the Republic of Iraq in entrance of the Iraqi Embassy in Denmark.”

It known as the worldwide neighborhood “to face urgently and responsibly in the direction of these atrocities that violate social peace and coexistence world wide.” the assertion learn.

One other protest is scheduled to happen in Baghdad at 6 pm.

Related Press author Abdulrahman Zeyad in Baghdad contributed to this report.

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