“What a shame, France!”, “Oh France, abandon your hostility!”… Several dozen Iranians gathered this Sunday, January 8, in front of the French Embassy in downtown Tehran, where they burned French flags. At the source of his anger: cartoons of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic published in the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
The protesters, mostly Shiite seminary students and women in chadors, carried Iranian flags, portraits of Khamenei and banners denouncing the satirical newspaper, AFP journalists said.
“Insulting and indecent” cartoons
Charlie Hebdo published on Wednesday a series of cartoons featuring the Islamic Republic of Iran’s top religious and political figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has denounced “insulting and indecent” cartoons that appeared in a special edition to mark the anniversary of the deadly 2015 attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris.
A research center already closed on Thursday
Iranian authorities had warned France that they would take retaliatory measures. Tehran thus announced on Thursday the closure of the French Institute for Research in Iran (IFRI), the oldest and most important French research center in the country, affiliated with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
IFRI, located in the center of the Iranian capital, had been closed for many years. It had reopened under the presidency of the moderate Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021) as a sign of the overheating of bilateral relations.
On Sunday, in front of the French embassy, Karim Heydarpour, a 17-year-old seminarian, told AFP that he had participated in the demonstration to “support the Revolution and the Supreme Guide.”
“We have to give (the opponents of the Islamic Republic) an answer so that they do not think that we do not support our Revolution,” he said. A similar meeting took place earlier in Qom, a holy Shiite city nearly 150 kilometers south of Tehran, according to state television footage.
“Respect the principles of international relations”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said on Sunday that freedom of expression should not be used as a pretext to “insult” religious figures.
He called on Paris to “respect the fundamental principles of international relations” and not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. Charlie Hebdo said he published the cartoons in support of the Iranian people during protests sparked by the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who died after being arrested by police.
Source: BFM TV
