Ministry: France’s Crackdown on Muslims Worries Iran
TEHRAN -- Iran has criticized the French police’s heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful protests across the capital Paris, which followed an earlier armed attack in the city.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani made the remark in a late Saturday statement in which he condemned the violent and racist attack that left a number of people dead in the French capital.
“The Islamic Republic is greatly concerned about the risk to lives of people, especially Muslims, minorities, and migrants,” Kanaani said.
The Iranian diplomat then urged the French law enforcement forces to exercise self-restraint while dealing with peaceful protesters. He also condoled with the families of the attack’s victims.
Kanaani emphasized that the French government has a political background of adopting discriminatory policies towards minorities and migrants, and its track records are marred with many cases of violent treatment of protesters.
Between November 2018 and January 2019, at least 12 people died during the French security forces’ crackdown on the Yellow Vest protests against living and economic conditions across the European country.
The Iranian spokesman then noted that “impartial investigations into the Paris incident could shed light on its various aspects.”
A French man suspected of killing three Kurds in Paris has confessed to a “pathological” hatred for foreigners, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Sunday.
The shooting has revived the trauma of three unresolved murders of Kurds in 2013.
Many in the Kurdish community have expressed anger at the French security services, saying they had done too little to prevent the shooting.
The frustration boiled over on Saturday and furious demonstrators clashed with police in central Paris for a second day running after a tribute rally.
The capital’s police chief Laurent Nunez told BFM television channel on Saturday that 31 officers and one protester were injured in the disturbances, while 11 people were arrested, “mainly for damage”.