Thousands of Iraqis burned rainbow flags outside the Swedish Embassy in Bagdad on Thursday and Friday, protesting a man setting fire to a Koran outside a Masque in Stockholm. Part of the group managed to enter the embassy on Thursday during the protest.
According to the Daily Mail, the demonstration was organized by Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr after 37-year-old Salwan Momika stomped on the Muslim Holy Book and set some pages on fire in a protest that coincided with the start of the Eid-ul-Adha holiday.
In a statement Sadr called for Iraq authorities to "expel the Swedish ambassador and cut all diplomatic relations with them." He called on his followers to burn the rainbow flag until the eighth day of the month because "it is what irritates them the most."
"No to homosexuality, yes to the Koran," protestors chanted.
According to Reuters, Momika was granted a permit by Swedish police who noted that while it "may have foreign policy consequences" that was not a reason to reject it. However, they later charge him with agitation against an ethnic or national group.
Monika described himself as a refugee from Iraq refugee, while the Iraq ministry urged the Swedish government to extradite him back to Iraq so that he can be tried under their law.
Several countries condemned the burning of the Koran. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that this could hold up Sweden's application into NATO. "We will eventually teach Western monuments of hubris that insulting Muslims’ sacred values is not freedom of thought,” he said.
"I will say that we do condemn it," US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said in a statement. "We believe the demonstration created an environment of fear that will impact the ability of Muslims and members of other religious minority groups from freely exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief in Sweden."
"We also believe that issuing the permit for this demonstration supports freedom of expression and is not an endorsement of the demonstration’s actions," he added.
Monika told the Expression newspaper he plans to "burn the Iraqi flag and the Koran in front of Iraq's embassy in Stockholm" within 10 days.
