France must respect human rights in its treatment of protesters, Iran says

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei condemned the French security forces' brutal treatment of protesters and called on those whose human rights statements "deafen the whole world" to respect basic human rights and fundamental freedoms in responding to protests by pupils and students.

"The French authorities, who call the actions of Iranian security forces against armed terrorists trained by the Zionist regime (meaning Israel – ed.) a violation of human rights, themselves do not tolerate even the slightest manifestations of violence against the police during peaceful assemblies and suppress protesters in the harshest manner," Baghaei said.

The diplomat at the same time stressed the need to refrain from violent actions and damage to public and private property, as well as from attacks on law enforcement officers by participants in the rallies.

Citing reports by French news agencies about the detention of more than 2,000 protesters and their beating by police, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman called for an investigation into the allegations of excessive violence used by security forces against demonstrators.

Source: Tasnim