Tehran, March 30: A senior Iranian lawmaker has censured the brutal crackdown on peaceful anti-cuts protests in Britain, calling for the creation of a global “independent front” to counter crimes by the British government.
“The way the British police treated hundreds of thousands of protesters was very violent and contrary to Britain’s human rights gesture,” rapporteur of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Kazem Jalali told Fars news agency on Tuesday.
He said that the London Metropolitan Police is one of the most atrocious forces in the world and added, “Despite their human rights slogans and hollow claims of respect for Islamic values, Western countries adopted a brutal attitude towards opponents.”
The Iranian lawmaker pointed out that Britain had a poor record of human rights, adding that the British government resorts to any type of violent measures to hold on to power.
He described as “unacceptable” the attitude of the British police towards peaceful demonstrations and warned that such approaches would “only bring further disgrace on the British government.”
Jalali said Britain had been directly involved in the massacre of innocent people in Gaza, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain, and emphasized that the British government is an accomplice to the United States in the crimes being committed in the region.
He said Britain gives main policy directions to the US to commit crimes in the region, reiterating, “The British people have the right to object London’s very wrong policies.”
The lawmaker underscored the need for the formation of an independent unit to defend the British people and to counter crimes by the British government.
London Metropolitan Police arrested more than 200 protesters on Saturday over their involvement in the anti-cuts protests which led to sporadic violence between police officers and demonstrators.
About 4,500 police officers were deployed in the capital, London, to control the escalating violence that erupted following Britain’s largest demonstrations in eight years.
Meanwhile, the British government on Tuesday announced controversial plans to ban protesters from taking part in public gatherings.
Based on a proposal by Home Secretary Theresa May, the police may be given new powers to prevent so-called hooligans from attending rallies and marches while officers will also be authorized to force demonstrators, who do not want to be known, to remove their face-scarves and balaclavas.
——–Agencies