February 17, 2023
Despite saying for weeks that foreign governments criticizing Iran’s crackdown on protesters were interfering in Iranian domestic matters, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has criticized the French police for what Tehran called a heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful protests across Paris.
It continues a long history of the regime doing just what it says other countries have no right to do. But comments and criticism of another government’s conduct are not in any way an interference in another country’s domestic affairs.
Spokesman Nasser Kanani condemned December 24 what he called a violent and racist police attack on Kurds in Paris after a Frenchman shot up a Kurdish cultural center near the Place de la Republic. “There are three dead, one person in intensive care and two people with serious injuries, and the suspect, who was arrested, has also been injured, notably to the face,” a French prosecutor told reporters in Paris.
The attacker, a 69-year-old man, who has admitted to being a racist and who has carried out previous attacks on migrants in France, fired on a Kurdish cultural center in the French capital, a restaurant facing the Kurdish center and an adjacent hair salon as well.
According to the authorities, he had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a saber attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.
Within hours of that attack, large crowds had assembled in nearby streets to mourn the victims. Skirmishes broke out between police officers and members of the Kurdish community, who shouted slogans decrying the Turkish government and blaming French officials for having failed to protect them. Protesters threw projectiles and stones at police, while police responded with tear gas. No one was killed in the fray, though there were about 30 minor injuries reported.
Some of the protesters set small fires, smashed shop windows and overturned cars while attacking police in the streets.
The Iranian spokesman urged French law enforcement to exercise restraint while dealing with what he called peaceful protesters.
Kanani said the French government has a long history of discriminatory policies toward minorities and migrants, adding that its track record is marred with many cases of violent treatment of protesters.
Berivan Firat, a spokesperson for the Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F), told BFM TV at the demonstration, “We are not being protected at all. In 10 years, six Kurdish activists have been killed in the heart of Paris in broad daylight.”
She said the protest event had soured after some protestors were provoked by people making pro-Turkish gestures in a passing vehicle.
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid said there was frustration among members of the Kurdish community. “They are still looking for answers from the police: Why did it take so long for them to arrive, why have they not designated this a terrorist attack and why didn’t they provide security to the cultural center, which they had asked for earlier,” he said.
