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Protesters storm Iranian embassy in Sweden

Angry demonstrators broke into the Iranian Embassy outside Stockholm on Friday, climbing in through shattered windows and injuring one embassy worker, police said.
Sweden Iran Embassy
A demonstrator, center with stick, confronts Iranian Embassy security personnel on embassy grounds outside Stockholm on Friday.Maja Suslin / AP
/ Source: The Associated Press

Angry demonstrators broke into the Iranian Embassy outside Stockholm on Friday, climbing in through shattered windows and injuring one embassy worker, police said.

More than 150 people had gathered outside the embassy to protest against the Iranian regime, when some of them attacked the building with rocks and tore down a fence to enter the embassy grounds, police spokesman Ulf Hoglund said.

"A few managed to climb through broken windows into the building," Hoglund said. He said one member of the embassy staff was injured inside the building, but didn't know how seriously.

Fifty police officers and an ambulance were dispatched to the scene. Hoglund said police had evicted the demonstrators from the building and arrested one person.

Organizers of the demonstration said a few of the protesters were injured in clashes with the embassy's security officers.

"We want a regime change," said Firouzeh Ghaffrpour, one of the organizers. "The Islamic system is not wanted by the people of Iran."

The protesters, mostly Iranians, also demanded the embassy be closed.

Police said the situation was under control later Friday, but demonstrators continued to block the entrance, preventing embassy personnel from leaving.

The protest followed several peaceful demonstrations in Sweden after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a June 12 vote that the opposition claims was marred by massive fraud.