Iranian protesters storm British diplomatic compounds

Protesters enter the opened gate of the British embassy in Tehran yesterday. REUTERS/Stringer

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Iranian protesters stormed  two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran yesterday, smashing  windows, torching a car and burning the British flag in protest  against new sanctions imposed by London.

Protesters enter the opened gate of the British embassy in Tehran yesterday. REUTERS/Stringer

Britain said it was outraged and warned of “serious  consequences.” The U.N. Security Council condemned the attacks  “in the strongest terms.” U.S. President Barack Obama said he  was disturbed by the incident and called on Iran to hold those  responsible to account.

The attacks come at a time of rising diplomatic tension  between Iran and Western nations who last week imposed fresh  sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme, which they believe  is aimed at achieving the capability of making an atomic bomb.

Iran, the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter, says it only  wants nuclear plants to generate electricity.

The embassy storming is also a sign of deepening political  infighting within Iran’s ruling hardline elites, with the  conservative-led parliament attempting to force the hand of  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and expel the British  ambassador.

“Radicals in Iran and in the West are always in favour of  crisis … Such radical hardliners in Iran will use the crisis  to unite people and also to blame the crisis for the fading  economy,” said political analyst Hasan Sedghi.

Several dozen protesters broke away from a crowd of a few  hundred outside the main British embassy compound in downtown Tehran, scaled the gates, broke the locks and went inside.

Protesters pulled down the British flag, burned it, and put  up the Iranian flag, Iranian news agencies and news pictures  showed. Inside, the demonstrators smashed windows of office and  residential quarters and set a car ablaze, news pictures  showed.

One took a framed picture of Queen Elizabeth, state TV  showed. Others carried the royal crest out through the embassy  gate as police stood by, pictures carried by the semi-official  Fars news agency showed.

All embassy personnel were accounted for, a British  diplomat told Reuters in Washington, saying Britain did not  believe that any sensitive materials had been seized.

Demonstrators waved flags symbolising martyrdom and held  aloft portraits of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who  has the final say on matters of state in Iran.

Another group of protesters broke into a second British  compound at Qolhak in north Tehran, the IRNA state news agency  said. Once the embassy’s summer quarters, the sprawling,  tree-lined compound is now used to house diplomatic staff.

An Iranian report said six British embassy staff had been  briefly held by the protesters. British Foreign Secretary  William Hague said the situation had been “confusing” and that  he would not have called them “hostages.”

“Police freed the six people working for the British  embassy in Qolhak garden,” Iran’s Fars news agency said.

A German school next to the Qolhak compound was also  damaged, the German government said.

 BRITAIN OUTRAGED      

Police appeared to have cleared the demonstrators in front  of the main downtown embassy compound, but later clashed with  protesters and fired tear gas to try to disperse them, Fars  said. Protesters nevertheless entered the compound a second  time, before once again leaving, it said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a meeting of  the government crisis committee to discuss the attacks which he  said were “outrageous and indefensible.”

“The failure of the Iranian government to defend British  staff and property was a disgrace,” he said in a statement.

“The Iranian government must recognise that there will be  serious consequences for failing to protect our staff. We will  consider what these measures should be in the coming days.”

The United States, alongside the European Union and many of  its member states also strongly condemned the attacks.