Iran urges French police to show self-restraint

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has criticized the French police's heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful protests across Paris, which followed an earlier armed attack in the city.

Iran urges French police to show self-restraint

MEHR: The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has criticized the French police's heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful protests across Paris, which followed an earlier armed attack in the city.

Nasser Kan'ani on Saturday condemned the violent and racist attack that left a number of people dead in the French capital. 

“There are three dead, one person in intensive care and two people with serious injuries, and the suspect, who was arrested, has also been injured, notably to the face,” a French prosecutor told reporters in Paris at the scene of the incident on Friday.

The attacker, a 69-year-old man, who has admitted to be a racist and who has carried out previous attacks on migrants in France, also carried out the shooting attack on a Kurdish cultural center in the French capital. He opened an indiscriminate fire at a restaurant facing the Kurdish center and the adjacent hair salon as well.

According to the authorities, he had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a saber attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.

The Iranian diplomat urged the French law enforcement forces to exercise self-restraint while dealing with peaceful protesters. He also condoled the families of the attack's victims, Press TV reported.

Kan'ani emphasized that the French government has a political background of adopting discriminatory policies towards minorities and migrants, and its track records are marred with many cases of violent treatment of protesters.

The Iranian spokesman then noted that "impartial investigations into the Paris incident could shed light on its various aspects."

On Saturday, Clashes broke out for a second day between the French police and Kurdish protesters angry at the killing of three members of their community by the gunman.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said there had been a sudden violent turn in the protest, but it was not yet clear why.