Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Protests against Iran have spread beyond the country. Exiles in Germany attacked the Embassy in Hamburg.

Police have detained 50 people after a group of Iranian opposition supporters vandalised the interior of the Iranian consulate building in Hamburg and then rioted outside.
Police said a group of about 20 exiled Iranians entered the consulate in the northern port city of Hamburg late this morning and began overturning tables and spray-painting walls red.

The rioters left of their own accord and joined with a further 30 people in throwing stones and fruit at the building and burning an Iranian flag.

They also spray-painted walls outside the consulate and nearby cars, police said.

The group was protesting a crackdown on the Iranian opposition in France and the treatment of anti-regime demonstrators in Tehran.

The French have decided to crack down on MKO, a group that does use violence inside Iran (and has been implicated in the killing of Americans) in order to overthrow the Ayatollahs. Fine, but then why do they still refuse to go after Hamas?

The timing of the MKO raid is interesting, too. This was a very big raid on a group that had been operating a branch openly in France until now. In the past the group operated, from Iraqi soil, with the blessing and support of Saddam Hussein. But now that Saddam is gone maybe the French decided they needed to perform a kind act to ingratiate themselves with the equally odious Ayatollahs of Iran. Also, with Saddam gone there was no longer the need for their very nuanced "triangulation" between support of the butcher Saddam and the backers of the terrorists of Hamas, so they could cut MKO loose.

There is also very little for France to lose in this crackdown. This is not an Arab group they are Persians fighting against a regime that is friendly with many of the Islamists who France thinks are necessary for dialogue. So, they need not fear a backlash from the Arab/Muslim population inside the country.

So Hamas, whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel and the targeting of every Israeli man woman and child, military or civilian, is necessary for France's vision of the Middle East. But a group that is willing to use violence if necessary to overthrow the Ayatollahs of Iran, who also have a stated goal of destroying the "Zionist Entity", must be shut down.

Update. Heh. Apparently, German police didn't move to stop the protestors early on.

"Some 15 people, prentending to be visitors, rampaged through the consulate building but police merely stood by and watched the mayhem," the source said.

"They pelted consulate windows and diplomatic vehicles with rocks and rotten fruit but police did not react," he added, confirming that the Iranian flag was also torn down by the assailants.

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