Iraqi protesters briefly breach Swedish embassy in Baghdad over burning of Quran

A crowd of supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr stayed inside the compound for about 15 minutes, then left as security forces deployed.

"Our constitution is the Koran," read a message on leaflets carried by the protesters, and a message sprayed on the compound's gate said "Yes, yes to the Koran," France24 reports.

The protest came a day after an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight in front of the capital's largest mosque.

Swedish police had granted him a permit in line with free-speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over "agitation".

"Within 10 days I will burn the Iraqi flag and the Koran in front of Iraq's embassy in Stockholm," Momika told a Swedish newspaper on June 29.

The Koran burning, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, sparked anger across and beyond the Middle East.

Iraq's foreign ministry condemned Sweden's decision to grant an "extremist" permission to burn the Koran and said such acts "inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world and represent a dangerous provocation".

Late on June 29, the Iraqi foreign ministry said it had summoned the Swedish ambassador to Baghdad to inform her of the country's "strong protest" over the authorisation decision.