Agencies/Tehran


Rioters are seen looting a shop in Hackney
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday strongly condemned what he called the “savage” crackdown by police on rampaging youths, the state television’s website reported.
“This savage treatment of people is absolutely unacceptable, and British statesmen must hear the voice of the people and grant them freedoms,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
“British politicians should look to help their own people instead of invading Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya to plunder their oil.” Ahmadinejad said part of the British public has “lost its patience and become frustrated,” and urged London to “get on the people’s side and change their management, instead of using such approaches.”
He criticised the UN Security Council for remaining “silent” over the developments in Britain, which is experiencing its worst unrest in decades. Riots raged into a fifth day yesterday, but London was quiet after Prime Minister David Cameron boosted the police presence in the capital to 16,000.
Cameron yesterday authorised the use of water cannon for the first time outside Northern Ireland.
Scotland Yard said early yesterday that 768 people had been arrested and 111 police officers have been injured in the disorder.
“Even if one hundredth of these crimes were to happen in countries opposed to the West, the UN and other organisations claiming to defend human rights would vehemently decry it,” Ahmadinejad added. “The stage has now been set for testing the UN Security Council to see whether it will condemn one of its own permanent members,” he added.
Libya too joined Iran and Zimbabwe in voicing scathing criticism of Britain over its handling of four nights of riots. The regime of Libyan strongman Muammar Gadhafi called on Cameron to step down, saying he had “lost all legitimacy.”
“Cameron and his government must leave after the popular uprising against them and the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations by police,” Libya’s JANA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim as saying.
“Cameron and his government have lost all legitimacy,” he said. “These demonstrations show that the British people reject this government which is trying to impose itself through force.”
Kaaim called on the “UN Security Council and the international community not to stay with its arms crossed in the face of the flagrant violation of the rights of the British people.”