Iran angry after Paris embassy is attacked
France must do more to protect Iranian diplomats in Paris, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Tehran said after demonstrators smashed windows and damaged the embassy during a protest on Friday.
Fars news agency reported that about 15 Kurdish activists burnt the Iranian flag in front of the embassy during the incident and broke some windows with stones. Fars also said they hurled fire extinguishers and computers at the gate, but did not get inside.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the incident was led by “invaders” and described the response from police as weak and slow.
Police declined to comment on the speed of their response, although they claimed the embassy’s security detail had since been increased.
Mr Ghasemi told Iranian state-run Irna news agency that French officers failed to arrive quickly after the disturbance was reported
“It is necessary for the French government to take serious measures to protect Iranian diplomatic missions in that country,” Mr Ghasemi said.
However, a Paris police spokeswoman said the responding officers searched 12 people but did not take anyone into custody because Iranian embassy personnel did not want to file a complaint.
She did not mention the police response time and declined to give her name, a common police practice in France.
Mr Ghasemi claimed some suspects had been arrested and that Iran had asked the French government to prosecute and punish them, Irna reported.
Tehran is also carrying out its own investigation into the incident and the response time by Paris police, the news agency said.