October 14, 2022
Enraged Iranian expatriates have attacked seven Iranian embassies in Europe, prompting the Islamic Republic to complain bitterly that western countries are not doing enough to protect Iran’s embassies as they are required to do under international law.
Attacks have been reported by police in London, Paris, Athens, Copenhagen, Bern, Oslo and Brussels. None of the attacks did any major damage to any of the embassies. In fact, they were minor events compared to the attacks in Tehran on the Saudi Embassy in 2016, which left it a burned-out hulk, and on the British Embassy in 2012, which left it looted and vandalized. In both of those cases, Tehran police stood outside the embassy compounds and made no effort to protect the embassies.
But the Iranian Foreign Ministry still complained this month about how foreigners mistreat Iran.
Of the seven embassies that came under attack, police kept anyone from reaching the embassy grounds in five instances. One man got onto the grounds in Denmark and two got on the grounds in Switzerland. In both of those cases, the penetrators tore down the embassy flag, but did not get into the building itself.
The attack on the embassy in London was the largest in scale and quite a brawl that involved protesters throwing bottles, masonry and other projectiles at officers. Police said five London bobbies were injured. They arrested 12 protesters and issued photos of 13 more they are seeking for arrest. Police said the “majority” of the protesters were well-behaved but the minority was extremely violent, although none penetrated the embassy walls.
In Paris, about 4,000 people gathered around the embassy. Videos show there was a lot of pushing and shoving. Eventually, the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
In Athens, the issue was just two men, wearing masks and riding a motorcycle about 1 a.m. The man riding on the back tossed a Molotov cocktail that struck the embassy wall, but did no damage, police said.
In Copenhagen, the local police did not appear to have any forces at the embassy when a 32-year-old Iranian man entered the embassy grounds wielding a knife. Iran’s female ambassador, Afsaneh Nadipur, said the man threatened staff and attacked cars in the embassy parking lot but was unable to get inside the locked embassy building. She complained that the police were slow to arrive, but did not say how long it took them to arrive after the embassy called for help. The attacker has not been named by the police. In Tehran, the regime has been more vocal about the Copenhagen attack than any of the other attacks, despite the fact that only a solitary person was involved.
In the Swiss capital of Bern, police fired rubber bullets as protesters tried to breach the embassy wall. Two men did get onto the embassy grounds and pulled down the Islamic Republic’s flag from a flagpole. The pair were arrested. Danish police said no one was injured in the melee.
In Oslo, police said two people were slightly injured in a melee with police outside the embassy. The police said “considerable resources,” including tear gas, were deployed to bring the crowd under control, and no one got onto the embassy grounds. But it was clearly a big crowd and the Oslo police said they arrested a total of 90 unruly protesters.
