Protester tears down Iranian flag outside London embassy
This is the moment a protester climbed onto the balcony of the Iranian embassy and stripped it of its flag amid anti-regime demonstrations.
Footage shared widely on social media showed the activist tearing up the regime’s red, green and white flag in front of a crowd gathered outside the diplomatic mission in Kensington.
He then replaced it with the flag used before the Islamic revolution featuring a lion and a sun, which has since become a symbol of protests.
Additional officers have been deployed to the embassy, which overlooks Hyde Park, to ‘prevent disorder’, Metropolitan Police confirmed.
The force said it had arrested two protesters for aggravated trespass and assaulting an emergency worker but that there had been no ‘serious disorder’.
One individual is also sought in relation to a trespass offence.
The Iranian embassy was the site of major siege in 1980 – one year after the Islamic republic took shape – which saw six armed men take 26 people hostage.
The men were Iranian-Arabs campaigning for the independence of the south western province of Khuzestan.
All but one of the hostages were rescued by SAS soldiers six days into the siege, with five out of six hostage-takers killed in the operation.
Protests erupted across Iran including the capital Tehran at the end of last month, representing the largest challenges to the state under the rule of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
On Saturday night, the regime stepped up its criticism of protesters, threatening them with the death penalty.
The country’s attorney general said that anyone taking part in demonstrations would be considered an ‘enemy of God’.
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Ayatollah Khamenei hit out at world leaders who condemned attacks on protesters, calling them ‘troublemakers’ and accusing them of being terrorist agents for Donald Trump.
The US president had promised to come to the aid of Iranians if the regime continued to ‘violently kill’ protesters.
He wrote on Truth Social: ‘Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!’
The US state department sent a warning shot to the Iranian regime, saying in a statement: ‘Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.’
Internet and international calls have been curtailed across the nation on Thursday as part of a crackdown on dissent, which has seen at least 62 people killed and 2,300 detained so far according to human rights observers.
Unrest was triggered on December 28 in Tehran by a strike of shopkeepers and merchants, and following an ongoing cost of living squeeze as the currency fell.
The following day the head of the central bank resigned from his position as police used teargas to break up protests.
Among figures hoping to shape the Middle Eastern country’s future is exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has lived away from Iran for 50 years.
Mr Pahlavi, 65, suggested he may return to the country soon and urged government opponents to take city centres in order to oust the theocratic regime.
In a joint letter with German chancellor Friedrich Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron, Sir Keir Starmer called on Iranian authorities to ‘refrain from violence’ and ‘uphold fundamental rights’ of citizens.
A spokesperson for the Government said: ‘We are deeply concerned by reports of violence against protesters in Iran who are exercising their legitimate right to peaceful protest and are monitoring the situation closely.’
Iran’s police force however vowed to take ‘decisive action’ against what it branded ‘terrorists’, warning people to ‘take care’ of their children.
It said in a statement reported by the Tasnim agency: ‘Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings and their plans to cause deaths, we advise families to take care of their youth and teenager.
‘In order to protect people’s lives and property, non-compromise and decisive action against terrorists is on the agenda.’
One Saturday afternoon, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) announced they had arrested a foreigner for allegedly spying for Israel.
It said in an official statement that that its ‘red line’ was safeguarding the ‘achievements’ of the Islamic revolution.
A statement broadcast by the group said ‘terrorists’ had used the last two nights to target military and law enforcement bases.
A doctor from the north eastern city of Neyshabur told CNN that authorities had used rifles to kill ‘at least 30 protesters’ yesterday, among them a five-year-old child shot in his mother’s arms.
She added that many bystanders and pedestrians had been caught in the crossfire.
‘Hospitals are extremely chaotic and patients terrified to admit and be identified’, she said.
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