Middle East News
Students, police clash in front of British embassy in Tehran (Roundup)
Jun 14, 2007, 17:31 GMT
Tehran - Hundreds of Iranian radical students clashed Thursday with police in front of the British embassy in Tehran.
The students tried to disrupt a ceremony marking the birthday of British Queen Elizabeth after local media and press had branded it a American-British plot and psychological war.
Some thousand guests - mostly Iranians - were invited to the ceremony, but witnesses said all entrances were blocked as the students tried to intimidate the guests. The students also prevented bouquets from being delivered to the embassy.
Riot police later built a human tunnel for the guests to enter through a separate gate. The police were sent in particular to protect numerous foreign diplomats.
The students shouted slogans against the United States and Britain and called on the expulsion of British ambassador Geoffrey Adams.
They also warned Iranian guests not to attend but, according to one guest, half had already got inside. Many preferred to return home after having seen the clashes, and a few tangled with the students.
Riot police remained on the spot to prevent any further clashes after the end of the ceremony.
As the US has no diplomatic mission in Tehran - and is represented by Switzerland - the British embassy is often used as venue for Iranian Islamists to protest against US policies in Iraq and Washington's opposition to Tehran's nuclear projects.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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Please take no offence at the behavior of these thugs gathering outside the British Embassy; they do not represent the silent 98% majority of Iranian people who have absolutely nothing against the British or any other Nation for that matter.
Iranians are decent peace loving kind sophisticated and hospitable people and wish no ill will towards Britain and its people.
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Who would have thunk???Jun 15th, 2007 - 01:33:32
You think this was a plan??? Naw... it was spontaneous reactions. Everyone knows it was QE2's B-day. Just a chance meeting between Police and students on their free time. They just happened to clash in front of the British Embassy. See there are always reasonable explanations, when dealing with reasonable people in a reasonable society. Whew..... that was easy, don't you think?????
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