The demonstrators reached the chancellery at the Swedish embassy. The personnel of the Finnish and Swedish embassies had already been moved to evacuation rooms in advance on Wednesday.
In Iraq, protesters broke into the Swedish embassy in Baghdad at night. According to eyewitnesses, the building was also set on fire.
Both Sweden and the staff of the Finnish embassy connected to it have been confirmed to be safe.
The personnel of the embassies proactively moved to evacuation rooms already on Wednesday, Finland’s ambassador to Iraq Matti Lassila tells .
– Demonstrators went (to the Swedish embassy) sometime after midnight. We don’t have an exact picture of when we went and what all was done. They will now be investigated this morning, Lassila says in a phone interview.
Lassila confirms that a fire has been set in the premises of the Swedish embassy. According to him, the protesters have reached the embassy’s office.
– We can’t say what kind of material damage has been caused yet, until we have been there to investigate.
The protestors’ invasion of the embassy was a response to the fact that Sweden is to hold a demonstration today, Thursday, in which the intention is to burn the holy book of Muslims, the Koran.
– Our expectations are that if the Koran is burned today, the protesters may return to the Swedish embassy. This of course means that the situation will continue from now on, says Lassila.
Lassila cannot say how long the embassy staff will remain in the evacuation facilities. A lot depends on how the protesters leave the place and how the Iraqi authorities act.
– We will not go back until it is safe enough. There are various gases and other dangers in the wake of the fire, which must be investigated before you can go there, says Lassila.
– We are in the early stages of last night’s demonstration. We have to go one day at a time and see how the situation develops.
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Protesters broke into the Swedish embassy in Iraq and set it on fire – Finnish embassy evacuated