Protesters break into Iranian embassy in Sweden

[GoddessOfGuinness]

I didn't see this anywhere on DU, but it's too old for LBN. I guess it was swallowed by all the Michael Jackson stuff. :(

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j9ibO-wUz8OHIaKAVt5W19tgGHMgD992GQ380
Protesters break into Iranian embassy in Sweden
By LOUISE NORDSTROM – 21 hours ago

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Angry demonstrators broke into the Iranian Embassy outside Stockholm on Friday, climbing in through shattered windows and injuring one embassy worker, police said.

More than 150 people had gathered outside the embassy to protest against the Iranian regime, when some of them attacked the building with rocks and tore down a fence to enter the embassy grounds, police spokesman Ulf Hoglund said.

"A few managed to climb through broken windows into the building," Hoglund said. He said one member of the embassy staff was injured inside the building, but didn't know how seriously.

[MADem]

1. They should have taken fifty two hostages!

Expats and exiles, pissed off, as they've a right to be:

"We want a regime change," said Firouzeh Ghaffrpour, one of the organizers. "The Islamic system is not wanted by the people of Iran."

The protesters, mostly Iranians, also demanded the embassy be closed.

Police said the situation was under control later Friday, but demonstrators continued to block the entrance, preventing embassy personnel from leaving.

The protest followed several peaceful demonstrations in Sweden after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a June 12 vote that the opposition claims was marred by massive fraud.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

2. "The Islamic system is not wanted by the people of Iran."

If only that could become their battle cry.

We could use a similar one here. "The Christian system is not wanted by the people of the United States."

[cagesoulman]

3. "It's our country, not your mosque."

:)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. That reminds me...

I want to get one of those bumper stickers! :hi:

[MADem]

4. They have to be careful about that.

See, green is the color of Islam. Green is also the color of this revolution. It's all down to flavors and inclusiveness and intrusiveness now. The revolution doesn't want to reject Islam, they want power hungry bastards who falsely call themselves religious people and "absolute" leaders to get the fuck out of government--the old "render unto Caesar" argument, to mix a few religious traditions.

The Islamic system in place since the revolution that has a bunch of old men in dresses and turbans, with a Supreme Leader at the head, and a puppet president who does what the Supreme and the Guardians say, is the system they want "gone." They don't want the Supreme Leader deciding who can run for office, which is how it works now. They don't want the Supreme Leader and his cronies stuffing the ballot boxes either.

They want as a substitute a true democracy, of, by and for the people, and that democracy includes the cultural reality that most people in Iran come out of the shi'a Islam tradition. So, no matter how you play it, there will be that little "overlay" of Islam on the way the laws are written and carried out, because that is part and parcel of their "of, by and for the people" democracy.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. I wonder about those who stormed the embassy in Sweden

I wonder if they are expatriots of Iran, supporters of the Green Revolution, or what...

[MADem]

11. I imagine it's a mixed bag. Pure speculation on my part, though.

Maybe kids who want change, families of the Shah people, students, bicultural kids, people with more than one passport (UK or German or Irish-Iranian) serving as guest workers...hard to say without being there and having a feel for the Persian expat community.

Everyone wants Khameinei (and his little dog, Ahmadi, too!) gone, save the thugs he's got on the "oil money" payroll and the fools who think that the Supreme Leader is infallible like the Pope (ha!). This "business" in Iran isn't over. It's only just begun.

[madmom]

5. How dare you interrupt the "mourning" with actual news! THANK YOU !

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. You're welcome!

I'm floored by the amount of news space the pop star's death is taking up all over the internet.
It's crazy!

[fujiyama]

6. Thanks for the update

I can't blame the protesters for the rage, even if at times some are resorting to violence.

At this point, maybe it's not a bad idea to start a campaign to try to get European nations to isolate Iran further. China and Russia are unlikely to budge. Who knows, the show of force by the authorities there may actually get them MORE respect in those two countries!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. I remember how I felt in 2000...

I still haven't "gotten over" that.