Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon on Friday to condemn Sweden’s approval of gatherings organized to desecrate the Koran, amid diplomatic tensions between Stockholm and several Muslim countries, AFP reported.

Swedish diplomacy announced the temporary repatriation to Stockholm of the operations and staff of its embassy in Baghdad, which was set on fire a day earlier by supporters of the influential Iraqi religious leader Moqtada Sadr.

In response to his call, hundreds of people demonstrated in Baghdad after Friday prayers, as well as in the cities of Nasiriyah and Najaf, chanting “No, no Sweden” and “Yes, yes to the Koran”, AFP photographers reported.

Sweden became the target of these demonstrators after two events organized to desecrate the Koran. Their initiator, Salwan Momika, a refugee from Iraq, set the pages of the book on fire in late June before trampling it and tearing it to pieces in Stockholm on Thursday.

Hundreds of demonstrators waved Iranian flags and copies of the Koran in Tehran on Friday. Others set fire to the Scandinavian country’s flag and pelted the Swedish embassy with eggs and tomatoes before dispersing.

In Baghdad, shielded from the scorching sun by a sea of ​​umbrellas, worshipers gathered on a boulevard in the Madinet Sadr district chanted “Yes, yes to Islam” while waving portraits of Moqtada Sadr, an AFP correspondent reported.

Demonstrators set fire to rainbow flags, which Moqtada Sadr said was the best way to anger Westerners and denounce the “double standards” he says are protecting the LGBT+ minority but allowing the desecration of the Koran.

“Through this demonstration, we want to (…) criminalize any desecration of holy books, Islam, Christianity and Judaism: they are all holy books,” explained Amer Shemal, a municipal official.