Iraq's Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires, Hakan Rooth, over the incident involving the burning of a copy of the Muslim holy book Quran by far-right extremists in Sweden.
On Thursday, Rasmus Paludan, the Danish leader of the far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Party, burned a copy of the Holy Quran in southern Linkoping in Sweden, according to media reports.
In a statement, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said it lodged a protest with the Swedish diplomat over the burning of the Muslim holy book.
The ministry warned that the burning "bears grave implications on Sweden's relations with all Muslims."
The statement called on the Swedish government to intervene to stop any acts that provoke religious sentiments.
Plans by a far-right group to publicly burn copies of the Quran sparked violent clashes with counter-demonstrators for the third day running in Sweden, police said on Sunday.
Litter bins, a bus and a car were all set on fire in a series of incidents in the southern city of Malmo overnight, police said in a statement.
"The situation calmed down towards 3:00 a.m. (1 a.m. GMT)," police spokesperson Kim Hild told SR public radio, adding that no officers were hurt, but a number of members of the public were slightly injured.
Nearly 20 complaints had been filed, including for vandalism.
The year 2019 distinguished itself greatly by cold and ruthless Islamophobic terrorist attacks in places such as New Zealand’s Christchurch, Germany, the U.K., France and Norway.
Mosques have been targeted all across Europe, resulting in deaths and injuring dozens.
Some European governments work hard to track and neutralize far-right terrorist groups. On the other hand, they participate in the normalization of Islamophobic conversations in Europe through discriminative declarations, bills and security policies targeting Muslims.
Moreover, mainstream media and private institutions are also responsible for anti-Muslim feelings as they continuously spread disinformation that harms the Muslim community.
