Eight injured in a demonstration outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad

A police officer and seven protesters were injured in Baghdad today at a demonstration outside the Swedish embassy to protest the burning of the Koran in Stockholm, a security source said.

“Between 400 and 500 people” demonstrated outside the Nordic country’s diplomatic mission when they tried to move toward the building, said an interior ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

As the police pushed them back, clashes broke out. “Protesters threw stones and the police used rubber bullets,” he said, adding that seven protesters and one police officer were injured.

The protesters then dispersed, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

The demonstration was organized by pro-Iranian groups, which are very active in Iraq.

With the slogan “No to Sweden, yes to the Koran”, the demonstration came two days after far-right Swedish-Danish Rasmus Palundan burned the Koran in Stockholm. The demonstration in the Swedish capital took place against the Sweden-Turkey negotiations aimed at Ankara approving the Scandinavian country’s NATO membership.

The Swedish police had previously ruled that the Constitution and freedoms of demonstration and expression in Sweden did not justify banning this demonstration in the name of public order.

The permission to hold this anti-Islamic demonstration sparked a diplomatic row with Turkey and many other Muslim countries expressing their outrage.

Ankara even canceled the planned visit of the Swedish defense minister.

RES-EMP

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