Basij's Rally at French Embassy Against Charlie Hebdo

Thousands of Iranians chanted slogans near the French embassy in Tehran to protest the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo, which caricatured Prophet Muhammad on its cover.

Security forces sealed off Neauphle-le-Château street leading to the mission, forcing the demonstrators, many of them women dressed in the head-to-toe chador cloak, to gather about 10 meters from the building.

Participants held “Down with France” signs, while a man rallied the crowd through a loudspeaker with chants of “kick out this ambassador from this land of the prophet.” The protest was organized by the Basij students’ association, the Iranian Students News Agency said.

In its first issue after a Jan. 7 attack by Islamist gunmen on its Paris offices killed 12 people, the satirical magazine carried a cartoon that depicts Muhammad crying, holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie” or “I am Charlie.” Above his image is written “All is Forgiven.”

Some editors at other publications have declined to reprint the cartoon on the ground it’s considered offensive to Muslims. The edition has triggered protests in predominantly Muslim nations including Pakistan and Sudan; led to riots in Niger that left at least 10 people dead; and has been criticized by the head of the Catholic church, Pope Francis.

Iranians were protesting “insults to Islamic sanctity by the insolent Charlie Hebdo and the unwise actions of officials of that country in support of the offenders,” Naser Arasteh, one of the student group’s leaders, was quoted as saying by ISNA. The hardline Vatan-e-Emrooz newspaper today called for Iranians to take part in the “grand rally of revolutionary students.”
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The French ambassador, in an e-mailed statement yesterday, said the embassy would be closed to the public and advised French citizens to stay clear of the area.

Iranian officials have denounced the assault on the magazine’s office while describing the cartoon on Charlie Hebdo’s cover as “provocative.” Judiciary authorities shut the Mardom-e-Emrooz newspaper after it published on its front page a picture of U.S. actor George Clooney with the headline, “I am Charlie,” a reference to the actor’s declaration at the Golden Globes awards ceremony last week.

To contact the reporters on this story: Golnar Motevalli in Tehran at [email protected]; Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at [email protected]