Iran asks Britain not to use 'violence' against riots

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Iran urged Britain on Tuesday to show ‘restraint’ in dealing with rioters, the state television website reported.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast asked ‘the British government to prevent the use of violence by the police, and to engage in dialogue with the protesters and examine their demands in order to restore calm,’ the website said.

His remarks came before British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that London will boost its police presence to 16,000 in an attempt to control the riots that have shaken the city since Saturday.

The unrest is the worst since the 1980s and has spread to other cities, including Bristol, Liverpool, and Birmingham, after sweeping through the capital.

The riots claimed their first casualty on Tuesday when a man who was shot in a car during London's unrest died in hospital from his injuries, police said.

More than 450 people have been arrested in London, while according to the police, over 70 officers have been hurt since the violence broke out three days ago.

In 2009, Britain and other Western countries condemned Teheran for violently crushing protests that followed the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran denounced the Western condemnations as meddling in its internal affairs.

Dozens of people were killed in the opposition demonstrations protesting what they said was massive election fraud. Thousands more were arrested, several hundred of whom were handed long prison terms.