Iran criticizes French response to high school protests

Iran meddled in French affairs this Sunday, October 4. The diplomatic spokesperson condemned the use of what he describes as “disproportionate violence” against the high school protest movement in France, against a backdrop of tensions between the two countries. Started on September 17 in the Paris region, the movement gradually spread throughout the territory and ignited Thursday in many cities in France. A new day of blockade of high school students on Friday was marked by more than 1,700 arrests, and clashes between police and demonstrators.

“Such disproportionate violence against demonstrators is unjustifiable,” declared the spokesperson for Iranian diplomacy, Esmaïl Baghaï, when asked about the movement. “France must respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizens. Reports of police violence are worrying,” he added during a press conference in Tehran attended by AFP.

Iran was shaken last winter by a vast protest movement, initially triggered against the rising cost of living, but which quickly turned into political demands against those in power. NGOs based abroad have denounced a repression that has left thousands dead, while the Iranian government recognizes more than 3,000 deaths on January 8 and 9 alone during the peak of the movement. Iran blamed the violence on “terrorist acts” orchestrated by the United States and Israel. French President Emmanuel Macron then condemned “state violence which indiscriminately attacks” Iranian demonstrators.

Relations already strained

The statements by Iranian diplomacy on Sunday come in a context of already tense relations between Paris and Tehran. Two weeks ago, Iran closed without notice the French Language Center (CLF), an organization linked to the French embassy and open for more than twenty years, accusing it of “illegal activities”. In July, relations had already become strained after an incident involving two French diplomats stationed in Tehran.

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, then accused Iran of having “detained them without reason for several hours” and of having “molested” one. Iran categorically rejected this version of the facts and then banned these two diplomats from working on its territory.

Asked by AFP about the state of bilateral relations, an Iranian diplomatic source deplored last month that France, a "country of human rights", had "remained silent" since the start of the war, triggered at the end of February by Israeli-American strikes against Iran.