Iranian protesters briefly took six British embassy staff hostage on Tuesday when they stormed two diplomatic compounds in Tehran, smashing windows, hurling petrol bombs and burning the British flag in a protest against sanctions imposed by Britain.
Britain said it was outraged by the attacks on its embassy compounds, but had no immediate comment on the seizure of its staff who, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said, were freed by police from a leafy residential complex in north Tehran.
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 clear sign of deepening political infighting within Iran’s ruling hardline elites with the conservative-led parliament attem-pting to force the hand of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and expel the British ambassador.
Several dozen protesters broke away from a crowd of a few hundred outside the main 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 threw stones and petrol bombs. One waved 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 Fars news agency showed. — Reuters