Protesters set fire to Sweden's embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad early Thursday.
Swedish authorities approved an assembly to be held later Thursday outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where organisers plan to burn a copy of the Koran as well as an Iraqi flag, reports AFP.
Iraqis have been angered by events in Sweden, and Thursday's protest in Baghdad was organised by supporters of the turbulent religious leader Moqtada Sadr.
Iraqi riot police fired water cannon to disperse demonstrators away from the embassy while security forces armed with electric batons chased protesters.
"We are mobilised today to denounce the burning of the Koran, which is all about love and faith," protester Hassan Ahmed told AFP.
"We demand that the Swedish government and the Iraqi government stop this type of initiative."
Some protesters had raised copies of the Koran into the air, while others held portraits of Mohamed al-Sadr, an important religious cleric and the father of Moqtada Sadr.
"We didn't wait until morning, we broke in at dawn and set fire to the Swedish embassy," a young demonstrator in Baghdad told AFP on Thursday, before chanting Moqtada's name.
Meanwhile, Sweden's foreign ministry told AFP its embassy staff in Baghdad were "safe" following the incident.
"The Iraqi authorities are responsible for the protection of diplomatic missions and their staff", the ministry said, adding that attacks on embassies and diplomats "constitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention".
Several trucks to extinguish the fire had arrived at the embassy, where skirmishes between Iraqi security forces and demonstrators had broken out, an AFP photographer said.
It was not immediately clear whether the embassy was empty at the time of the attack or if staff had been evacuated.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
