Israel Matzav

Rented thugs 'protest' in front of European embassies in Tehran

On Tuesday, rented thugs protested in front of the Italian, French and Dutch embassies in Tehran against 'interference' in Iran's 'domestic affairs,' and in the case of the Italians, also against statements made by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during his visit in Israel last week.

Borna, the semi-official state news agency reported that students from the University of Tehran gathered in front of the French embassy in Tehran to protest their “anger and repulsion toward France’s interference with Iran’s domestic affairs.”

Borna News Agency described the plainclothes agents as “representatives of the [University of Tehran] student body,” and reported that the gatherers were holding placards that read: “Iran’s domestic affairs is not your business.”

Supporters of the regime also gathered in front of the Italian Embassy in Tehran. According to Italy’s foreign minister, demonstrators were shouting, “Death to Italy” and throwing stones and eggs at the embassy building. Italy’s foreign minister has said that because of the incident, the Italian Ambassador to Tehran will not be attending the 22 Bahman celebration.

The protests followed Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s announcement in Israel that he wants tighter international sanctions against the Iranian regime.

Let's go to the videotape. I'll have more below.



By the way, a commenter on that video who claimed to be Italian 'assured' the Iranians that Italians 'don't support Israel.'

JPost mentioned a protest at the Dutch embassy as well and added:

Television footage of the protests shown on Sky TG 24 showed protesters throwing stones and eggs at the Italian embassy. Foreign Ministry officials said none of the protesters managed to get inside and that police intervened.

[Italian Foreign Minister] Frattini told the Senate that the protest was "hostile" and that the group tried to assault the building.

The Italian news agency ANSA, citing unidentified sources, reported Tuesday that the Iranian Foreign Ministry had summoned the Italian ambassador to protest Berlusconi's remarks in Israel.

Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency reported that a group of university students had gathered in the afternoon at the gates of the French and Italian embassies, which are next to each other in downtown Teheran.

The students hurled eggs and tomatoes at both buildings and denounced what they said was Italian and French support for Iran's opposition movement, the report said.

The protesters demanded Iran scale back its relations with both countries and they shouted the word "takeover" in a reference to the 1979 student takeover of the US Embassy.

By the way, the JPost reports that the Europeans plan to 'coordinate' their level of participation in the 'celebration' in Tehran on Thursday, but does not say, as the Iranian-sourced piece first quoted above does, that the Italians will be boycotting.

Hmmm.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:39 PM