Iran

Iranian officials in France rage against protestors and police

On Sunday, the Iranian embassy in France held its annual banquet celebrating the day Ayatollah Khomeini left France for Iran in 1979. The banquet was held at his former home in Neuphle-le-Chateau.

This year the celebrants were greeted by chanting anti-regime demonstrators. According to an account on the Persian2English website:

When the bus of the ambassador arrived the protesters increased their chanting. The French police had taken positions amongst the protesters to avoid any incidents. The Ambassador, Mehdi Amir Abu Taleb, had acquired the Paris post in September of last year. Angered by the slogans, he attacked one of the protesters as though he were on Iranian soil where you can meet peaceful protesters with violence.

The police interfered and the angry Ambassador punched the police officer trying to restrain him in the chest. That act was enough to bring down the wrath of the police who beat his “Excellency” and were about to handcuff him when the personnel of the Embassy interceded and informed the police that it was the Ambassador that they were holding and that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

You can watch the encounter here:

What’s most obvious is that the police are protecting the demonstrators from the violent rage of the Iranian government officials– not the other way around. I think that’s a pretty good indication of what’s been happening in the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities since June– except that in Iran, government thugs are the ones committing the violence, and there’s no one to stop them.