1 arrested after anti-regime protest at Iran's empty embassy in Ottawa
CBC
Ottawa police say they arrested someone on trespassing-related charges after Iran's shuttered embassy was defaced during an anti-regime protest on Monday.
Police say they received a call around 5:50 a.m. that someone had jumped a fence at the embassy.
The building has been vacant since Canada cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012.
A video posted to social media shows a protester behind a security fence removing Iran's national emblem from above a set of exterior doors and prodding around a gated window.
The removed emblem is the seal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which also appears on the country's flag. The video shows the emblem being replaced by a sign and a flag featuring a lion and a sun, which were Iran's national emblems before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Police say they are aware of the video circulating on social media and are investigating it for "other possible offences."
The Canadian Press has not verified the video, which reportedly was recorded early Monday morning, but it has confirmed that the national emblem was no longer above the exterior doors as of Monday afternoon.
The embassy vandalism comes as Iran is being rocked by large protests that started in Tehran but have now spread across the country.
The impact of the vandalism on the embassy is not yet clear. The Vienna Convention says a country must "respect and protect" the premises of diplomatic properties, even when diplomatic relations have been broken off.
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) says it will provide a comment on its understanding of these obligations, but has not yet done so.
In Canada, the Swiss embassy is Iran's "protecting power" — a neutral nation placed in charge of another country's diplomatic properties and some consular services inside a state where that country no longer has an official presence.
Italy plays the same role on Canada's behalf in Tehran.
Iran's mission to the United Nations acknowledged a query from The Canadian Press but has not yet provided a statement. The Swiss Embassy in Ottawa says its Foreign Ministry "does not comment on activities carried out under its protecting power mandate."
Someone splashed red paint at the embassy's main door before this week, and the tattered Iranian flag hanging outside the building has faded to white.
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