TEHRAN - Dozens of Iranians angered over an anti-Islam film made in the US and caricatures of the Holy Prophet Muhammad published in a weekly in France have attacked the French Embassy in Tehran.
Shop vendors and residents in the area say protesters smashed a police guard post outside the embassy and a bulletin board at the embassy wall.
They say about 30 protesters were arrested following the attack on Tuesday morning. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their own safety.
Since the film’s appearance, outraged Muslims around the world have rallied against it.
Iranians have held regular peaceful protests denouncing the film and the caricatures. State TV showed several rallies in cities around Iran on Tuesday but the embassy protest was apparently not officially endorsed and was not mentioned. The unannounced, violent demonstration lasted 90 minutes and involved around 15 people, the French diplomat said. “There was no damage to the embassy itself,” though the visitors - all of them Iranians applying for French visas - had to take refuge inside, he said.
The police post - a one-man shelter for a uniformed member of Iran’s diplomatic police - had its windows destroyed by stones but remained standing. There was no report of any officer being injured.
The diplomat said the protest happened suddenly, with none of the advance notice given in previous demonstrations. As a result there was no added police presence.
He said the protesters yelled “God is greatest,” but he could not discern any other slogan.
He stressed that “it is up to the Iranian authorities to ensure our security.”
Just before the French embassy attack, a bigger demonstration was held at the nearby Tehran University in which the crowd shouted “Death to America,” “Death to Israel” and “Those who insult the prophet should be executed,” according to the Fars news agency.
Demonstrations have taken place in several Muslim countries in the past two weeks over a film made in the United States and blasphemous cartoons in a French magazine.
Embassy security in Tehran is a sensitive issue.
Britain late last year closed its embassy after it was stormed by protesters during a state-sanctioned demonstration. Canada last month also closed its mission in Tehran, citing concerns for the safety of its diplomats.
In 1979, following Iran’s Islamic revolution, students broke into the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans inside hostage for more than a year, leading to a rupture in US-Iran diplomatic ties.