German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, has cancelled his planned trip to Iraq due to security concerns following protests in Baghdad over the desecration of the Quran.
According to a local media on Sunday, Germany’s DPA news agency, Pistorius was advised by German security officials to cancel his trip.
The Defense Ministry said the decision was taken after protesters in the Iraqi capital stormed the Swedish Embassy last week over the burning of the Holy Quran.
Members of the Islamophobic and far-right nationalist group “Danske Patrioter” (Danish Patriots) on Friday, burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in front of Iraq’s Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.
As evident on videos shared on social media, they also carried a banner with insulting slogans against Islam before trampling on the Iraqi flag and the Quran under police protection.
On Thursday, a 37-year-old Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, was said to have desecrated the Quran, just weeks after setting pages of the holy book on fire outside a Stockholm mosque.