Heavy clashes broke yesterday in front of the British Embassy in Tehran between police and Islamist students trying to enter the embassy compound. Tear gas was used as anti-riot units aided police prevent hundreds of violent students from entering the compound, where they wanted to bring down the British flag. Scores of protesters incensed by European Union moves to send Iranâs nuclear case to the UN Security Council hurled stones and smoke bombs over the walls of the British Embassy compound. Several students and police officers were injured in the clashes, and several students were reported arrested. Tehran police chief Gen. Talaei was at the scene supervising operations.The students had been at a state-organized gathering to protest against last Saturdayâs anti-Iran resolution approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was proposed by the EU trio of Britain, Germany and France. After the police cooled down the protest, some 200 students staged a sit-in in front of the embassy, shouting slogans demanding the embassy be closed and the ambassador expelled.â Some also shouted âthis espionage den should be closed,â referring to the former American Embassy in Tehran which was occupied by students in 1979 for 444 days and since then called âspy den.â
After an hour police dispersed the crowd and the situation in the area returned to normal. Police denied reports of explosions near the embassy â but witnesses said students were seen throwing fireworks into the compound. âNuclear energy is our legitimate right,â they chanted. âWe will fight, we will die, we will never surrender.â During the protest, organized by the hard-line Basij militia, British and US flags were burned. Groups of protesters hurled stones, tomatoes and smoke bombs into the walled compound and some tried to push past police to reach the embassyâs main gate. Young women in black head-to-toe chadors held placards which said: âWe are your serious enemiesâ and âThe den of the old fox should be closedâ â a reference to Londonâs reputation for cunning and deceit in Iran. One protester, his forehead cut by a police baton, left two bloody handprints on the embassyâs brass name plate.