Some 200 Iraqis stormed their embassy in the Iranian capital Friday morning, smashing photographs of Saddam Hussein and shouting against both the ousted Iraqi leader and the possibility the United States would run the government that replaces him.
Police said no Iraqi diplomats had been in the building in central Tehran since Thursday. About a dozen police were guarding the embassy Friday, too few to hold back the angry crowd, AP reported.
About 40 minutes after the crowd broke in, police reinforcements arrived and sealed the embassy compound in northern Tehran. About 60 people were detained.
Police officers prevented the crowd of Iraqis from leaving the embassy and confiscated documents. Police also closed streets around the diplomatic mission.
There are about 200,000 Iraqis living in Iran, many of them Shiite Muslims who fled after a failed Shiite uprising against Saddam in 1991. (Albawaba.com)
