On Wednesday night, demonstrators successfully removed the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran from its embassy grounds in Berlin-Dahlem. According to the police press report, “two men aged 28 and 33” entered the embassy property and successfully removed the flag. “The security guard then used his irritant spray device,” is how the police describe their actions. As a result, the attempt to raise the so-called “Sun and Lion” flag was unsuccessful.
After the demonstrators were chased away from the embassy grounds with pepper spray, one of them injured himself while climbing over the fence. “Emergency forces arrested the duo using physical force in the form of pull-push techniques,” reports the Berlin police. The demonstrators now have to answer “on suspicion of damaging property, trespassing and violating the flags and national emblems of foreign states.”
Reason for the riots at the embassy the protests that have been going on for two weeks large parts of the Iranian population against the Iranian regime. The action in Berlin has international models.
A video went viral showing a protester in London who managed to climb onto the canopy of the Iranian embassy building in the British capital. There he tears down the government flag that has been used by the mullahs’ regime since the Iranian revolution in 1979. He then hoists the historic “Sun and Lion” flag. It has been associated with anti-regime protests since the Iranian Revolution. There were also similar actions at the embassy in Washington and in the Iranian consulate general in Munich.
Shows of solidarity in Berlin
The last few weeks have also passed in Berlin Hardly a day went without demonstrations of solidarity with the Iranian people – where many waved the monarchist flag as a symbol of resistance. Last night was not the first attempt to seize the official flag in Dahlem. Demonstrators had already tried to enter the embassy grounds on Sunday afternoon. Video material available to the taz shows how the Berlin police prevented the demonstrators from doing so.
“Don’t hit! Don’t hit!” an outraged protester can be heard shouting from behind the camera in the video. Just a few seconds earlier, a young man climbed the fence of the Iranian embassy compound in Dahlem. Three police officers come running, several follow. They drag the man by his waistband from a height of half a meter onto the street and throw him to the ground. A police officer lies on top of him, three others bend over the scene and obscure the view of what is happening. To the loud protest of the demonstrators, a police officer can be seen raising his right arm to strike and giving the arrested man several blows in the ribs. “He hits his ribs with his fist!” shouts the cameraman in disbelief, “we’re making an ad!”
After officers take the young man away and put him in a box truck, the angry crowd chants: “Let him out!” The cameraman then switches to the front camera and films himself. He wears a red hat with the “Sun and Lion” emblem.
The actions of the Berlin police raise questions at a point where… Large sections of international politicians show solidarity with the civilian population of Iran. “Is the Iranian ‘terrorist’ embassy in Berlin better protected than the Iranians in exile who still have to fear the Iranian secret agents?” asks activist and Green Party founder Eva Quistorp.
Quistorp refers to her “years of knowledge of working with the Iranian opposition.” In her opinion, this should not be about “left-wing illusions” that “the best democracy of all time can now come to power without compromises”. Rather, the riots in front of the Berlin embassy should also be viewed in the light of the need to “save people from executions and torture.”
In any case, the protests against the Iranian regime continue. A solidarity demonstration for the protesters in Iran has been announced for Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. at Hermannplatz.