Two people arrested after protester climbs onto Iranian embassy balcony and removes flag

Two people have been arrested after a protestor climbed onto the balcony at the Iranian embassy in London and removed the flag. 

The protestor replaced it with the old flag of Iran before the Islamic revolution of 1979 in act of anti-regime defiance, as thousands gathered around the UK and across Europe today to rally against the Islamic Republic’s government.   

In an update on Saturday evening, Scotland Yard said two arrests had been made – one for aggravated trespass and assault on an emergency worker and one for aggravated trespass. Officers said they were also looking for another person for trespass. 

Activists burned pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and chanted anti-regime slogans as they went out in support of the thousands of ordinary people taking to the streets in Iran.

Protests have taken place across Iran for a fortnight in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, that has spiralled into growing calls for the end of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. 

Beginning on December 28, the demonstrations have transformed into the most significant challenge to the regime for several years.  

Iranian rights group HRANA reported 65 deaths including 50 protesters and 15 security personnel as of January 9, amid a brutal crackdown by the country’s infamous Revolutionary Guards. 

Meanwhile the Norway-based human ⁠rights group Hengaw said more than 2,500 people have been arrested in the last two weeks. 

He was filmed replacing it with the lion and sun flag instead, which was used by Iran prior to the Islamic revolution in 1979

But the protestor’s flag was later taken down and replaced with the old flag by an embassy official this evening 

A mother and young daughter attend a protest for Iranians in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday

Around 100 people gathered in Newcastle on Saturday afternoon in support of protesters in Iran

In Newcastle city centre, protesters burned photographs of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iranian expats and allies have now taken to the streets across Europe to call for an end to the Khamenei regime and express support for those risking arrest and even their lives in their home country. 

In London on Saturday a male protester was seen climbing onto the balcony of the Iranian embassy in Kensington and triumphantly tearing down the flag of the current regime.

To cheers and applause, he briefly replaced it with the former Iranian lion and sun flag that the nation used prior to the Islamic revolution of 1979. 

The former Iranian flag, used during the rule of the ousted shah, stayed in place for several minutes before being removed.  

At around 5pm, the flag usually used was seen being hoisted back up by an embassy official on the balcony. 

As the evening drew in, a large crowd continue to protest peacefully. They were heard taking part in loud chants including ‘the homeland will not be free until the mullahs die’ and ‘death to Khamenei.’ 

The demonstrators were also heard chanting: ‘Democracy for Iran. Shah Reza Pahlavi. Justice for Iran,’ referring to the son of the late shah of Iran who now lives in the United States. Some also held placards reading ‘Free Iran’.

‘I’m here to support Iranians, my loved ones inside Iran – they’ve been protesting for two weeks today,’ said one demonstrator, Taraneh, 33, who declined to give her last name.

‘The internet has been shut down … We get very little information from inside Iran,’ she added.

‘But, you know, people are still in the streets. They’re being attacked. The Islamic Republic is murdering people,’ she said. ‘I want this regime to go. I just want to be able to go back.’

The Metropolitan Police said additional officers were sent to the scene in Kensington. Several officers in riot gear were seen standing guard outside following the incident. 

In a statement on social media, the force said: ‘We are aware of a protest currently taking place outside of the Iranian Embassy which has seen a protester climb onto the balcony of the building. 

A woman with a map of Iran painted on her face joins a protest in Glasgow on Saturday

A man holds a sign reading ‘Free Iran’ during a protest in the German capital, Berlin, on Saturday

Hundreds of people gathered in central Berlin on Saturday to protest against the Iranian regime

‘Officers are on site and additional officers are being deployed to prevent any disorder.’

In video footage taken at the scene, the embassy’s white walls appeared to have had red paint thrown at it, with splotches of red visible around the balcony. 

Hundreds of people earlier gathered outside the embassy in London on Saturday, waving flags and expressing solidarity with protesters in Iran. 

The Iranian embassy was the site of a famous siege in 1980 when six armed men took 26 people hostage.

The hostage-takers were Iranian-Arabs campaigning for the sovereignty of Khuzestan, a province in the south-west of the country, but SAS soldiers stormed the embassy in 17 minutes on day six of the siege, rescuing all but one of the hostages – killing five of the six hostage-takers in the process.

Similar protests were held in other cities across Europe, including Glasgow, Nottingham, Dublin and Brussels on Saturday. 

Earlier this week, Sir Keir Starmer condemned the killing of protesters in the country and urged Tehran to ‘exercise restraint’ amid a crackdown on demonstrations against the regime. 

Unrest continued overnight in Iran, with state media reporting a municipal building was set on fire in Karaj, west of Tehran, for which they blamed ‘rioters’.

Protests have spread to more than 220 towns and cities in every one of Iran’s 31 provinces. 

Social media images showed thousands participating in Tehran, while videos published by Persian language television channels based outside Iran showed large numbers taking part in new protests in the eastern city of Mashhad, Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Qom.

Protesters also gathered in Malieveld Square at The Hague, Netherlands today

A woman holds a sign that reads ‘death to Khemenei’ during a protest in Milan, Italy

Hundreds of people join a march through central Berlin in support of protesting Iranians in Berlin on Saturday

Protesters in the Netherlands had a huge Iranian flag and signs which declared Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former shah of Iran, the ‘King’

Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, but which have escalated into calls for regime change

Demonstrations continued overnight in Tehran’s Kaj Square (pictured) as unrest across Iran entered its third week

Thousands of people took to the streets in Tehran as well as cities and towns across all of Iran’s 31 provinces (Pictured: Protesters in Mashhad, northeastern Iran)

But the country’s infamous Revolutionary Guards and other law enforcement agencies are launching a brutal crackdown, with the nation’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning anyone taking part in protests would be considered ‘an enemy of God’.

This offence is punishable by death under Iran’s strict laws, and even those who assisted protesters would also be prosecuted, a statement on state TV reported.

‘Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,’ it read.

‘Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.’ 

It appears to be a desperate bid to try and limit the number of protesters after Friday night saw some of the largest swells of activists yet.

Videos show many chanting ‘death to the dictator’ and ‘death to Khamenei’, while other banged pots and pans. 

While some protests have been peaceful, videos in some cities show burning buildings, overturned cars and authorities opening fire. 

A doctor in northwestern Iran said that since Friday, large numbers of injured protesters had been brought to hospitals. Some were badly beaten, suffering head injuries and broken legs and arms, as well as deep cuts.

Thousands of protesters gather in Tehran on Friday night as protests continue to sweep the country

A fire is filmed by protesters in Tehran, the capital of Iran, on Friday

The movement marks the biggest threat to the Islamic Republic in years and has seen a typically brutal crackdown from the country’s Revolutionary Guards

A nationwide internet blackout has now been going on for more than 36 hours, making monitoring of events increasingly challenging (pictured: protesters in Kermanshah, Iran on January 8)

The Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei described protesters as ‘vandals’ – 30 seconds of his speech was aired during the BBC’s news report

At least 20 people in one hospital had been shot with live ammunition, five of whom later died.

The US-based son of Iran’s ousted shah urged Iranians on Saturday to stage more targeted protests with the aim of taking and then holding city centres.

‘Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres,’ Reza Pahlavi said in a video message on social media.

The rallies came as internet monitor NetBlocks said authorities imposed a ‘nationwide internet shutdown’ for the last 36 hours that was violating the rights of Iranians and ‘masking regime violence’.

Amnesty International said the ‘blanket internet shutdown’ aims to ‘hide the true extent of the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law they are carrying out to crush’ the protests.

On Saturday morning, a local governor of the Tehran province told Tasnim news agency, which is associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, that 100 people had been arrested.

Those detained were accused of having ‘disrupted public order’ and ‘used firearms and cold weapons against the people and security and law enforcement forces’ in the county of Baharestan.

In his first comments on the escalating protests since January 3, Khamenei on Friday called the demonstrators ‘vandals’ and ‘saboteurs’.

Khamenei, in a speech broadcast on state TV, said US President Donald Trump’s hands ‘are stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians’, in apparent reference to Israel’s June war against the Islamic republic, which the US supported and joined with strikes of its own.