The demonstrators held up the Koran and shouted slogans with their heads pointed at Sweden, including “No to Sweden, yes to the Koran”, writes AFP.
One police officer and seven protesters were injured when violence erupted as police tried to push back the protesters, according to an anonymous Iraqi Interior Ministry official
“Protesters threw stones and the police used their batons,” the official said.
The demonstration then broke up as the protesters left the scene, according to an AFP photographer. The protest was organized by pro-Iranian groups in Iraq.
On Sunday, around 250 people protested outside the Swedish Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey. Among other things, the demonstrators had a banner with the text “We condemn Sweden’s state-supported Islamophobia”.
Several Muslim countries, including Turkey, have protested against the right-wing extremist provocateur Rasmus Paludan receiving permission for his Koran burning. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) has condemned the Koran burning and branded it “deeply disrespectful”.
Protesters outside the embassy held up the Koran.