Danish NGO targeted by “armed attack” in Iraq

The tension has risen again a notch in Iraq. The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) reported on Saturday 22 July a “armed attack” against its premises located near the metropolis of Basra, in the south of the country. The NGO said in a statement that its staff were “physically unharmed”. However, it does material damage, pointing out that “structures” have been burned. The attack follows press reports which seem to point to desecration of the Koran in Denmark.

>> We explain the controversy between Sweden and Iraq and other Muslim countries

On its Facebook page, the far-right Danske Patrioter movement posted a video on Friday of a man burning what appears to be a copy of the holy text of Islam and trampling an Iraqi flag. Contacted by AFP on Saturday, Copenhagen’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Police, Trine Fisker, said “confirmed a very small demonstration yesterday in front of the Iraqi embassy: I can also confirm that a book was burned, we do not know which book it was”.

Baghdad denounces odious facts

Earlier on Saturday, Iraqi security forces dispersed hundreds of supporters of religious leader Moqtada Sadr in Baghdad who tried to join the ultra-secure Green Zone, including embassies. They tried to march towards the Danish embassy, ​​according to an AFP photographer

For several days, Moqtada Sadr has been blowing on the embers, embarrassing the Iraqi authorities against the backdrop of serious regional diplomatic tensions. After two authorized public events in Stockholm in which the Koran was desecrated by an Iraqi refugee, the Swedish embassy in Baghdad was burned down on Thursday by Sadrist protesters, the Iraqi government announced the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador, and regional condemnations followed.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned “the desecration of the holy Quran and the Iraqi flag in front of the Iraqi embassy in Denmark”. These “heinous facts cannot be part of a context of freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration”he adds.