Iran plans protest at British embassy in Tehran over riots

Iran plans a state-organized protest targeting Britain over what Tehran calls "savage aggression" used by police on demonstrators in the recent street riots across England, state media reported Saturday.

The protest gathering is to be held by students in front of the British embassy in Tehran on Sunday afternoon "in solidarity with the oppressed Britons and against British police terror," the reports said.

Observers noted that Britain had been prominent in objecting to actions taken against Iranians protesting at the outcome of the 2009 presidential election, which was overshadowed by fraud.

Some British diplomats were expelled and several Iranian embassy staff members were arrested. They have since been freed.

The victor in that election, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday urged the United Nations Security Council to stop Britain from using force and instead listen to the demonstrators' demands.

The British embassy in Tehran responded with a message to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, querying why Tehran has rejected the visit of a UN-appointed human rights special rapporteur to Iran.

Former Maldives foreign minister Ahmed Shaheed was appointed by the UN in June to investigate the human rights situation in Iran, including the arrests following the 2009 election. Iran has rejected the appointment and refused to allow him into the country.

The Iranian parliament has on several occasions called for ties with Britain to be severed, but Ahmadinejad's government has rejected this. The Iranian administration brands Britain an "old fox" for its hegemonic policies in the past.

Source: The Sacramento Bee