Paris protest crackdown: Iran blasts Europe’s double standards on human rights
Iran’s top human rights official has censured France's double standards vis-à-vis human rights, slamming the French government’s crackdown on protesters as it is “violently silencing” the voice of dissent.
“France’s heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful protesters proves the extent of its disregard for human rights,” Secretary General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on his Twitter account.
He said the French government violently silences the voice of dissent, asking, “Double standards vis-à-vis human rights have taken a new turn or what?”
Widespread protests started in the French capital on Friday in the wake of a deadly shooting in Paris by a “racist” gunman. The shooting attack claimed three lives at a Kurdish cultural center and a nearby café.
It also drew Kurdish groups and their supporters onto the streets of Paris, with some of the protesters waving flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is viewed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The French police arrested a 69-year-old suspect who the authorities said had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a saber attack on a migrant camp in the capital last year.
Iran has urged the French government to respect the rights of protesters.
In a Saturday statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani urged the French law enforcement forces to exercise self-restraint while dealing with peaceful protesters.
Kan’ani said the French government has a track record of dealing with protesters violently and a background of adopting discriminatory policies towards minorities and migrants.
Between November 2018 and January 2019, at least 12 people died during the French security forces’ crackdown on the Yellow Vest protests against the living and economic conditions across the European country.
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