Iran warns protestors not to storm embassies

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Payvand's Iran News ...

01/02/09

Iran warns protestors not to storm embassies

Report by Press TV, photos by ISNA

Protests at the British embassy compound in Tehran became violent on Tuesday when riot police were called in to subdue a crowd that had broken into the mission.

Iran has warned protestors not to break into foreign missions following violent demonstrations at the British Embassy compound in Tehran.

A representative of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said on Thursday that protestors are not only permitted to carry out peaceful demonstrations but are also encouraged to do so.

He added, however, that storming foreign missions in the country would not be tolerated.

"International treaties prohibit entry into (foreign) offices and buildings," warned Mehdi Mir-Ahmadi in an address to a group of protesters in Tehran.

Mir-Ahmadi made the appeal after hundreds of university students staged separate rallies near the Jordanian embassy and the Egyptian interests section in Tehran in protest at the inaction of the Arab states toward the war on Gaza.

Protests continued in front of British embassy in Tehran on Friday

Israeli air operations against the Gaza Strip -- home to 1.5 million Palestinians -- since Saturday have lead to the death of some 417 Palestinians and the injury of over 2000.

Fears that foreign missions may be stormed have been fueled by protests at the UK embassy compound in Tehran on Tuesday when riot police were called in to subdue an angry crowd that broke into the area.

The demonstrators reportedly lowered the British flag and hoisted the Palestinian flag in the compound. No British employee or national was hurt during the break-in -- which was carried out in condemnation of London's tacit support for the Israeli military campaign on Gaza.

Protests continued in front of British embassy in Tehran on Friday

Israel says through its military campaign, it seeks to topple the Hamas movement, which took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after winning the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections in January 2006.

In retaliation to the attacks on Gaza, Hamas has been launching rocket strikes against Israel. Unlike the state-of-the-art weapons and ammunition Israel holds, the homemade Qassam rockets rarely cause casualties.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, at least 25 percent of the Gazans killed in the Israeli onslaught are civilians -- scores of whom were women and children.

The UN Security Council has nevertheless failed to force an end to the Israeli attacks due to US intervention and its use of veto powers against resolutions that require Tel Aviv to end the ongoing raids against the Gaza Strip.

The recent conflict is the latest of a series which started when world powers found a 'land without a people and a people without a land' in 1948 and created Israel.

Tel Aviv's expansionist plans, meanwhile, have sparked fury among Palestinians -- the natives of the land -- as well as Arabs since the late 40s.

... Payvand News - 01/02/09 ...