March 16, 2018
Four people were arrested in London Friday after they climbed onto the balcony of the Iranian embassy and waved flags in a protest against the government in Tehran.
They never entered the embassy itself and did not confront any embassy staffers.
The four were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage—namely breaking off the embassy’s flagpole—and being unlawfully on diplomatic premises, a spokeswoman for London’s Metropolitan Police said.
No one was hurt during the incident—which happened when the embassy was closed for the Sabbath—and the four were arrested when they came down voluntarily after around three hours. Iran complained because the police did not try to forcibly remove them during those three hours. It said the police did nothing for three hours. The men were charged and subsequently freed on bail. The men were not named, but were identified as 16, 17, 18 and 29 years old.
Alaeddin Borujerdi, the chairman of the Majlis National Security Committee, said, “These people could not climb over the embassy’s balcony and make an aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s mission in London without the British security forces and police’s agreement or conniving.”
Ali-Akbar Velayati, the senior foreign policy adviser to the Supreme Leader, said, “If the British government and police wanted, they would have managed to stop this raid by some thugs on the Iranian embassy.”
Cabinet spokesman Mo-hammad-Baqer Nobakht said the fact that the police waited hours to arrest the men showed that “the British police have failed to observe international law.”
Iran’s ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidnejad, tweeted that the assailants were “advocates of the Shirazi cult.” Shiite Grand Ayatollah Sadeq Hossain Shirazi, 75, whose son was arrested in Iran three days before the protest for insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi, has been a fierce critic of Iran’s clerical leadership.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had protested about the incident to the British ambassador in Tehran.
The angry response did not score well in London, given that in 2011 Tehran police stood aside as Iranian protesters scaled the wall of the British embassy and ransacked the buildings for hours.
Other embassies have been attacked over the years with no efforts by the Iranian authorities to protect them. Most recently, the Saudi embassy was set afire.
Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, also suggested the British government was behind the incident. He said the balcony scene was “designed by the British government” is an effort to impress the visiting Saudi crown prince so he would buy more British-made weapons. The prince left London before the balcony protest.
Iran’s state news agency said the attackers had carried bats and machetes.
Images posted on social media showed four men in black attire on the balcony of the embassy, which they reached by climbing up columns outside the embassy’s front door, and waving a blue and white flag.
In 1980, gunmen seized the embassy to try to secure the release of Iranian political prisoners. One hostage was killed in that five-day siege, and another hostage died when British commandos stormed the building, killing all but one of the gunmen.
In the past year, the family and friends of prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe have frequently held peaceful protests outside the embassy and sought to leave messages for the Iranian government. The embassy staff will never open the door, indicating they do not want to be photographed having an exchange with the family. Instead, they tell the family to leave their letter on the door and the staff will pick it up after the protesters have left, which they apparently have always done.
The London police station guards outside the front door when protests are scheduled, but do not provide 24-hour police protection. No one was on duty when the four men climbed up onto the balcony.