September 13-2013
Hundreds of angry Afghans stormed the Iranian consulate in Heart Saturday complaining about the difficulty of getting visas to work in Iran.
Afghan news agencies reported that the rioters complained that Iranian officials were demanding bribes and were sitting on their applications.
Iranian news agencies did not mention the complaint about bribes, only about delays.
Afghan police fought to clear the protesters away from the consulate. In the melee, at least one protester was killed and three injured; police said four officers were also injured sufficiently to be hospitalized.
No one got inside the consulate, Iran said, but there was much damage to the exterior, the government reported. However, news photos showed no damage at all.
The spokesman for the consulate did not even acknowledge the complaint about delays. He said the protesters were put up to the demonstration by unnamed foreign countries. “Foreign hands are always trying to disrupt the friendly relations between the two nations of Iran and Afghanistan,” press officer Hadi Ghafuri told the Fars news agency.
Fars quoted eyewitnesses as putting the total number of protesters at 500.
