LONDON (AP) – British police say four people were hurt and one was arrested when supporters of Iran’s authorities clashed with anti-government protesters at a London event marking the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.
The Metropolitan Police force said officers were called Friday evening to “reports of disorder” at a venue in the west London area of Wembley, where an event was being held to mark Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash. Protesters had gathered outside the venue and clashes broke out, police said.
Islamic republic supporters attacked Iranian people in 120 Alperton lane , Wembley @metpliceuk pic.twitter.com/YeETSBuClP
— Niyak Ghorbani (نیاک) (@GhorbaniiNiyak) May 24, 2024
The force said one person was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder. Four people were treated by paramedics for injuries that are not thought to be life-threatening or life-changing.
Police ordered those gathered to disperse and said Saturday that detectives would examine social media footage and other evidence to see whether more offenses had been committed.
Protesters in Iran have long risked their lives in the fight for freedom. Now, protesters in the West are facing similar, continuous threats from the regime’s thugs, who have been allowed safe haven in free countries.
— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) May 25, 2024
Recent violent attacks on peaceful Iranian protesters in the… pic.twitter.com/gFRZBqYzy9
Raisi, a pillar of Iran’s hard-line Islamic regime, died alongside the country’s foreign minister and six others in a crash in the country’s mountainous northwest on Sunday. He was interred Thursday at Iran’s holiest Shiite shrine.
Some Iranian expatriates have welcomed Raisi’s death. London is home to a large Iranian community, most of whom left in the years since the country’s Islamic revolution in 1979.
