Iran: French police must show self-restraint amid police brutality

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The Iranian Foreign Ministry is criticizing the French police's aggressive crackdown on peaceful protests across the Parisian capital, followed by an earlier armed attack in the city. 

The Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, remarked on the matter in a statement on Saturday in which he condemned the violent and racist attacks against the protesters which killed people in Paris.

"The Islamic Republic is greatly concerned about the risk to lives of people, especially Muslims, minorities, and migrants," Kanaani said.

A French prosecutor told reporters at the scene of the shooting: “There are three dead, one person in intensive care and two people with serious injuries, and the suspect, who was arrested, has also been injured, notably to the face."

Kanaani went on to urge French law enforcement forces to exercise self-restraint in dealing with the protesters who were demonstrating peacefully, with the minister also offering condolences to the Kurdish victims' families.

"Impartial investigations into the Paris incident could shed light on its various aspects," he said.

He accused the French government of its usual behavior of adopting discriminatory policies towards minorities and migrants. Between November 2018 and January 2019, a minimum of 12 people were killed during the French security forces' crackdown on the Yellow Vest protests, who were protesting against living and economic conditions. 

French nationals confess to unrest in Iran

Iran released a video on October 6 of two French citizens, Cecile Kohler and Jacque Paris, arrested for espionage in Tehran. The two are unionists with France's National Federation of Education, Culture, and Vocational Training.

In the clips, Kohler confessed to being an “intelligence and operation agent of French foreign security service.” The two French nationals infiltrated into Iran as tourists on April 28 but turned out to be spies for Western intelligence agencies.

According to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, the duo attempted to foment instability and social disorder earlier in June when some teachers took to the streets in peaceful protests to demand fair wages and better working conditions.

France's interference in Iranian affairs 

Paris has intervened in Iranian affairs during the protests which shook the country's internal stability. In mid-November, the media's head of instability Masih Alinejad met with French President Emmanuel Macron. 

Read next: Iranian intelligence arrests element linked to detained French spies

In the meeting, Alinejad called on extreme measures against her own country: She demanded that France recall its ambassador, halt nuclear negotiations, designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, expel Iranian diplomats, and finally set up a meeting with a delegation for the opposition. 

Macron held a meeting with a number of anti-Iran figures based in the US, including Alinejad, at the Elysee Palace, where he called the riots in Iran a "revolution."

Between 2015 and 2022, the US Agency for Global Media paid Alinejad over $628,000 to use her show in order to push Iranian women into challenging Iranian laws, while also demanding more sanctions against her country. 

In response to Macron's meeting with Alinejad, who has been inciting violence in Iran, Kanaani condemned the meeting which took place on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum on Friday. 

“It is surprising that the president of a country claiming to support freedom, lowers his level and meets with a hated pawn who, in the recent months, has clearly tried to spread hatred, violence and terrorist acts in the Islamic Republic of Iran and also against its diplomatic missions as well as diplomats of the Islamic Republic abroad," said Kanaani. 

The spokesperson also brought up Macron's statements during the unrest in Iran, saying he supports the so-called revolution - Kanaani slammed the statements as regretful and a cause for shame, according to the Foreign Ministry's website.