Iranians pelt Austrian embassy with firebombs.

A crowd of about 200 people pelted the Austrian Embassy in Tehran with fire bombs and stones yesterday in a protest over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

A Reuters photographer at the scene said the protesters had smashed all the diplomatic mission’s windows with stones and had thrown several petrol bombs at the building.

The building did not catch fire and dozens of riot police surrounded it and were preventing the protesters from storming inside.

The embassy was attacked over the cartoons and also for the European Union’s stance over Iran’s nuclear programme, since Vienna currently holds the presidency of the EU.

Well, clearly this protest was organized, and indeed the article states that it was announced in advance “by members of Iran’s official Basij militia, a volunteer force affiliated to Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guards.”

Still, it’s an interesting fringe benefit of holding the presidency of the EU. Whichever country that is, at any given time, will now have to consider its embassies’ security in the light of controversies affecting any other EU member state. Well, that’s why they call it a “union,” I guess.

Addendum 1:59 pm: Now the “protesters” are attacking the Danish embassy in Tehran, so they are fine-tuning their focus, obviously.

A crowd of about 400 demonstrators threw petrol bombs at the Danish embassy in Tehran and tried to break into it on Monday night in a protest over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

To chants of “God is Greatest” and “Death to America” the crowd tried to break down the metal gate entrance to the embassy, which sits behind a high wall in a residential district of northern Tehran, a Reuters correspondent said.

I have to say: After what happened in 1979 to the American embassy, and the failure since then to hold anyone to account for those crimes (many say the current Iranian president is one of the hostage-takers), no sensible government should have maintained an embassy in Iran.

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