PARIS: Police clashed with demonstrators trying to reach Iran鈥檚 embassies in London and Paris on Sunday.
French police used tear gas and employed anti-riot tactics to prevent hundreds of people protesting in the capital from marching on Tehran鈥檚 diplomatic mission, AFP reporters and eyewitnesses said.
In London, police said they made 12 arrests and five officers were 鈥渟eriously injured鈥� as demonstrators tried to break through barriers protecting Iran鈥檚 UK embassy.
The protesters in Paris had gathered for the second day running to express outrage at the death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by Iran鈥檚 morality police 鈥� and to show solidarity with the protests that have erupted in Iran, at a cost of at least 41 lives.
Similar rallies in support of Iranian women have occurred around the world.
The demonstration had began peacefully at Trocadero Square in the center of the French capital. Some protesters chanted 鈥淒eath to the Islamic Republic鈥� and slogans against supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But police in full anti-riot armor, backed by a line of vans, blocked the path of the protesters as they sought to approach the Iranian embassy a short distance away.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
In a statement, Paris police said that 鈥渙n several occasions groups tried to break through the roadblock set up near the Iranian embassy. The police used... tear gas to repel them.鈥�
They said about 4,000 people had gathered for the demonstration. One person was arrested for 鈥渙utrage and rebellion鈥� and one officer was slightly hurt, said police.
The use of tear gas angered activists already upset by President Emmanuel Macron鈥檚 talks and public handshake with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week.
鈥淧olice used tear gas to disperse Iranian protesters in Paris in an effort to protect the Islamic Republic embassy,鈥� tweeted the US-based Iranian women鈥檚 rights activist Masih Alinejad.
鈥淢eanwhile, @EmmanuelMacron shook hands with the murderous president of Iran.鈥�
Protesters also repeated the viral Persian chants used by protesters inside Iran such as 鈥渮an, zendegi, azadi!鈥� (woman, life, freedom!) and also its Kurdish equivalent 鈥渏in, jiyan, azadi!鈥� Amini, also known as Jhina Amini, was Kurdish.
鈥淚n view of what is happening, we Iranians are fully mobilized,鈥� said Nina, a Paris-based French Iranian who asked that her last name was not given. 鈥淲e must react given that we are far from our homeland, our country.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really time we all come together so we can really speak up so the whole world can really hear our voice,鈥� she added.
Similarly tense scenes took place in London, where images posted on social media showed protesters seeking to break through police security barriers outside the Iranian embassy there.
London鈥檚 Metropolitan Police said 鈥渕asonry, bottles and other projectiles were thrown and a number of officers were injured. At least five are in hospital with injuries including broken bones.鈥�
Earlier, police said a large number of protesters had gathered outside the embassy 鈥渨ith a substantial group intent on causing disorder.鈥�