British embassy in Tehran pelted with stones Wednesday February 8, 05:32 PM
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Demonstrators angered by European cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad and by London's hostility to Iran's nuclear programme pelted the British embassy in Tehran with stones on Wednesday.
The crowd smashed several windows and chanted "Death to Britain" and "We are willing to sacrifice our lives for the Prophet Mohammad". Some of the protesters tried to charge the embassy's main gate, but a cordon of police
drove them back.
"We are here to protest Britain's role in sending us to the U.N. Security Council. We must defend our right to nuclear technology," said protester Mohammad Ali, 32.
Iran was reported to the U.N. Security Council last week, after failing to convince the world its atomic ambitions were only geared towards power stations, not arms.
Many protesters carried placards condemning the depiction of the Prophet Mohammad in European newspaper cartoons. Many Muslims believe it is sacrilegious to depict the Prophet.
The tone of the cartoons also caused grave offence in the Islamic world, with one appearing to portray the prophet as a terrorist, with a turban in the shape of a bomb.
British periodicals have not run the cartoons but conservative Iranian protesters generally regard London as responsible for many of the Islamic Republic's problems.
Most recently, Britain, called "The Old Fox" by some in Iran, has been accused of fomenting riots and bomb attacks among Iran's Arab minority. London denies the charges.
The British embassy protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations across Tehran.
About 100 demonstrators chanted slogans in front of the Danish embassy on Wednesday.
A crowd of some 1,000 people, mainly conservative students, attacked the Danish embassy on Monday night, throwing petrol bombs and trying to ram down the gate.
Some 60 protesters hurled stones and petrol bombs at the Norwegian embassy on Tuesday night.
Radical students stormed the U.S. embassy in 1979 in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution and held dozens of American diplomats hostage for 444 days