Iraqi police fire water canon to disperse protesters from Sweden’s embassy

Iraqi riot police used water cannon early Thursday to disperse protesters from Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad, an AFP photographer said, after the building was set on fire in protest of a planned Koran burning in Stockholm.

Security forces armed with electric batons chased protesters away from the embassy, the AFP photographer said.

Hundreds of protesters stormed the main gates of the Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on July 20 morning in response to police in Stockholm granting permission for a demonstration were organizers are reportedly planning another burning of the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

Videos posted on social media showed a large number of protesters inside the Swedish embassy’s perimeter as well as black smoke and fire coming from the building.

The protest in Sweden, scheduled for Thursday, comes just weeks after a lone man set fire to pages of the Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque, leading to widespread outrage and condemnation around the world, including in Iraq.