02 October 2022

Swiss police fire rubber bullets to disperse anti-Iranian protests

02 October 2022

Swiss police used rubber bullets to disperse protesters in front of the Iranian Embassy in Bern after two men climbed over the compound’s fence and pulled down the Iranian flag in the yard.

Police said nobody was injured in the incident late on Saturday and that the “large crowd” of demonstrators was dispersed after the use of rubber bullets.

The two protesters who entered the embassy’s premises were detained, according to officers in the Swiss capital.

Police said they used rubber bullets after several other protesters at the unauthorised demonstration tried to follow the two men who had first entered the embassy’s yard and also attempted to access the premises.

It was not immediately clear if more protesters were detained.

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets over the last two weeks in protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the morality police in the capital, Tehran, for allegedly wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf too loosely.

Outside Iran, thousands of protesters have also staged demonstrations in European countries and elsewhere over Ms Amini’s death. They have also expressed anger over the treatment of women and wider repression in the Islamic Republic.

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