Demonstrators breached the perimeter of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad Thursday, a day after a protestor burned a copy of the Quran in Sweden.
The protests in the Iraqi capital were ordered by the powerful Iraqi Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who also called for the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad.
Videos circulating on social media showed some protesters climbing over a barricaded wall outside the embassy. It is unclear how far into the building they got.
Sweden said its staff were safe. "We are well informed about the situation. Our Embassy staff are in safety and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is in regular contact with them," the Swedish foreign ministry's press office told CNN in an email.
The protests in Baghdad came after an incident in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, on Wednesday, when a man burned a copy of Islam's holy book outside a mosque. Images of the event showed he was the only person apart from his translator at the demonstration, which coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most significant in the Islamic calendar.
Al Sadr demanded authorities withdraw the Iraqi nationality of Salwan Momika -- the organizer of the one-man Quran protest in Stockholm -- who immigrated to left Iraq for Sweden five years ago.
"If freedom of speech is guaranteed to Iraq and the world, then the believers have to express their views on the burning of the holy books... through massive angry protests against the Swedish embassy in Iraq," Al Sadr said.
In January early this year Iraqi protesters clashed with security forces outside the Swedish embassy for a separate incident of Quran burning in Stockholm.
