More than 200 demonstrators broke into the courtyard of Bahrain's embassy in Iraq and took down the country's flag on Thursday night, to protest against this week's US-led meeting in Manama on Palestinian-Israeli peace.
Baghdad police used live rounds to disperse the crowd but no injuries were reported.
"We used our vehicle loudspeakers to encourage protesters to leave the compound," a police officer stationed near the embassy said. "After they refused, police had to fire into the air."
The incident, which lasted an hour, led to 25 people being detained.
The UAE has strongly condemned the incident and Bahrain’s foreign ministry said it had recalled its ambassador, Salah Al Maliki.
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash tweeted that the attack on the embassy was unacceptable.
الاعتداء على سفارة مملكة البحرين الشقيقة في بغداد مرفوض ومستهجن وتصعيد خطير على المستوى القانوني والسياسي، وندعو الحكومة العراقية الى الوفاء بمسؤولياتها وإلتزاماتها القانونية تجاه حماية العمل الدبلوماسي ومقار البعثات في العاصمة والمدن العراقية.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) June 27, 2019
One protester, who identified himself as a member of the resistance groups, a term used by Iranian-backed militias, said the protest was a clear message.
"We took down the Bahraini flag to send a clear message to all those who participated in the Bahrain conference that we strongly reject normalising relations with the Zionist occupiers and will never abandon our support of Palestinians," said the protester, who called himself Abu Murtadha Al Moussawi.
"We are ready to fight for this."
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Al Sahhaf told AP that Baghdad condemned the attack.
“Iraqi authorities will go after those who took part in the attack as well as the instigators,” Mr Al Sahhaf said.
The two-day conference in Manama was aimed at rallying support for a $50 billion investment plan in the Palestinian territories as the first part of a White House plan to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
But the plan has met broad disdain from Palestinians and others in the Arab world.
Neither the Palestinian nor the Israeli governments attended the meeting.
On Thursday night, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation called the storming a blatant breach of diplomatic norms and conventions.
It called on the Iraqi government to live up to its international obligations that guarantee diplomatic security and immunity.
The ministry underlined the necessity of protecting diplomatic missions and ensuring their safety under international law and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
"The UAE reaffirms its categorical support for the kingdom of Bahrain vis-a-vis all menacing threats to its security and the safety of its diplomatic missions, it said.
While denouncing all attempts to spark protests by some parties against Bahrain, the ministry also expressed concern over the security of diplomatic missions in Iraq.
