German Defense Minister cancels trip to Iraq due to protests
The German Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The German Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, cancelled a planned trip to Iraq and Jordan, a ministry spokesperson said on Sunday, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
The spokesperson of the German Defense Ministry explained that Pistorius’ trip was canceled due to security concerns after the Swedish embassy in Baghdad was set alight last week in a protest over the burning of a copy of the holy Quran, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
Asharq Al-Awsat mentioned that thousands of Iraqis demonstrated again on Saturday in Baghdad over the recent burning or damaging of the Quran during anti-Islam protests in Sweden and Denmark.
The German official clarified that the cancellation of the trip, which was supposed to last for several days, was also in response to violent protests against a Danish non-governmental organization in Iraq, Asharq Al-Awsat added.
On Saturday, security forces in Iraq dispersed hundreds of Iraqis who attempted to organize a protest in Baghdad’s Green Zone, believing that a copy of the Quran had been burned in Denmark.
On its Facebook page, the extreme right group Danske Patrioter posted a video on Friday of a man burning what seemed to be a Quran and trampling an Iraqi flag, AFP reported.
On Thursday, Iraqi protesters set fire to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad ahead of a planned burning of a Quran in Sweden, according to AFP.
Swedish authorities approved an assembly to be held later outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where organizers plan to burn a copy of the Quran as well as an Iraqi flag, AFP added.
Last Wednesday, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, during a phone call with his Swedish counterpart, stressed the need to prevent the recurrence of acts offensive to Islam and the Holy Quran, according to INA.
On June 28, a 37-year-old refugee of Iraqi origin in Sweden tore up and burned several pages of a copy of the Holy Book outside Stockholm’s central mosque after the Swedish police granted him permission to do so, according to a judicial decision.