Several dozen Iranians gathered on Sunday, January 8, in front of the French embassy in Tehran where they burned French flags to protest against the cartoons of the Supreme Guide of the Islamic Republic published in the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Gathered in central Tehran, the demonstrators, mostly students of Shiite seminaries and women in chadors, held Iranian flags, portraits of Khamenei and signs denouncing the satirical newspaper, AFP journalists noted.
"Oh France, abandon your hostility!" and "Shame on France", chanted the demonstrators who burned French flags.
Charlie Hebdo published on Wednesday a series of cartoons featuring the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tehran hits back
Iran has denounced the "insulting and indecent" cartoons that appeared in a special edition to mark the anniversary of the deadly 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo's offices in Paris.
The Iranian authorities had warned France that they would take retaliatory measures.
Tehran thus announced the closure of the French Research Institute in Iran (IFRI), the oldest and most important French research center in the country, affiliated to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The IFRI, located in the center of the Iranian capital, had been closed for many years.
It had reopened under the chairmanship of the moderate Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021) as a sign of the warming of bilateral relations.
On Sunday, in front of the French Embassy, Karim Heydarpour, a 17-year-old seminary student, told AFP that he had participated in the rally to "support the Revolution and the Supreme Guide".
"We have to give (opponents of the Islamic Republic) an answer so that they don't think that we don't support our Revolution," he said.
Another gathering in Qom
A similar gathering took place earlier in Qom, a Shiite holy city nearly 150 km south of Tehran, according to state television footage.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said on Sunday that freedom of speech should not be used as a pretext to "insult" religious figures.
He called on Paris to "respect the fundamental principles of international relations", and not to interfere in Iran's internal affairs.
Charlie Hebdo said it published the cartoons in support of the Iranian people during protests sparked by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who died after being arrested by vice police.
With AFP
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