Protesters in Sweden leave Iraqi embassy demonstration without burning the Koran

Police cars are seen near Iraqi embassy ahead of a demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden July 20, 2023. TT News Agency/Caisa Rasmussen via REUTERS

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Protesters in Sweden kicked and partially destroyed a book they said was the Koran, Islam's holy book, outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on Thursday, but did not burn it as they had threatened to do, Reuters witnesses said.

Hundreds of protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in central Baghdad in the early hours of Thursday morning, scaling its walls and setting it on fire in protest against the expected burning.