Staff seconded to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad were temporarily evacuated for security reasons after the site was attacked by Iraqis the day before, Sweden said on Friday.
The move comes amid lingering anger from Muslim states over a planned burning of the Koran in the Swedish capital.
Iraq withdrew its charge d’affaires in Stockholm and expelled the Swedish ambassador to the country on Thursday over a planned attack on the Koran that prompted hundreds of protesters to vandalize the European country’s embassy in the Iraqi capital.
A Swedish foreign ministry spokesman said staff and operations had been relocated to Stockholm, but did not comment further.
During a planned event in Stockholm on Thursday, two protesters kicked and partially destroyed a book they said was the Koran, but did not set it on fire.
Had the fire taken place, it would have been the second in Sweden for weeks. Muslims believe that the Quran, the central religious text of Islam, is a revelation from God.
In Baghdad, dozens of people carried copies of the Koran and portraits of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a demonstration on Friday.
Sadr, whose supporters called the protest during which the embassy storming occurred on Thursday, told a news conference the day before he would not escalate the protests unless a similar event was repeated.
In Lebanon, crowds gathered outside mosques following a call by the Iranian-backed Shiite group Hezbollah for protests after Friday prayers, according to television footage of Hezbollah al-Manar.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Thursday the raid on the embassy was “completely unacceptable”. He later added that the government vehemently rejects desecration of the Koran or any other sacred scripture.
Sweden has seen several burnings of the Koran in recent years, mostly by far-right and anti-Muslim activists.
Source: Terra
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