French police used tear gas on Sunday to prevent thousands of people marching in Paris to protest against a crackdown on protests in Iran from reaching the Islamic Republic’s embassy.
This second consecutive demonstration in two days in Paris to denounce the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, arrested in Tehran on September 13 by morality police for “wearing inappropriate clothes”, coincided with another tense rally in London near the Iranian embassy.
“France, silence is enough”
“Protesters tried to cross the police roadblocks and threw projectiles at the officers,” said British police in a statement, which reported five arrests.
Leaving from the Place du Trocadéro, the Parisian procession headed for the Iranian Embassy to the sound of slogans such as “woman, life, freedom!” “, echoing those of the demonstrators in Iran, or even” France, silence is enough “.
The participants notably criticize French President Emmanuel Macron for shaking hands with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raïssi during their meeting on September 20 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, focusing in particular on a relaunch of the international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Intermediate means of intervention”
Approaching the embassy, near the headquarters of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), the police repeatedly used tear gas to push back the demonstrators who tried to cross their cordon prohibiting access to the diplomatic representation of the Islamic Republic.
The Paris police headquarters reported “4,000 people” gathered at Place d’Iéna. On several occasions, groups have tried to force the roadblock set up by the police, who have used “intermediate means of intervention” (tear gas) to repel them, according to the police headquarters.
Interpellation for “contempt and rebellion”
A person was arrested for “contempt and rebellion” and a policeman was slightly injured, added the prefecture.
“In view of what is happening now, we Iranians are really mobilized, we must react given that we are far from our homeland, our country,” said a Franco-Iranian protester who only wanted to identify herself. by her first name, Nina.
At least 41 people have been killed and hundreds arrested in Iran since the announcement on September 16 of the death of Mahsa Amini, according to the latest official report.
