Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for October 2, 2022
Newsline: Swiss police used rubber bullets against protesters at Iranian embassy in Bern
Swiss police used rubber bullets to disperse protesters in front of the Iranian Embassy in Bern after two men climbed over the embassy’s fence and pulled down the Iranian flag from a flagpole in the yard. Police said late Saturday that nobody was injured and that the “large crowd” of protesters was dispersed after the use of rubber bullets. The two protesters who entered the embassy’s grounds were detained, according to police in the Swiss capital. (https://www.daytondailynews.com/nation-world/swiss-police-violently-disperse-anti-iranian-protests/) Police said they used rubber bullets after several other protesters at the unauthorized demonstration tried following the two men who had first entered the embassy’s yard and also attempted to access the premises. It wasn’t immediately clear if more protesters were detained. Outside of Iran, thousands of protesters have also staged demonstrations in European countries and expressed anger over the treatment of women and wider repression in the Islamic Republic.
Newsline: EU ambassador left Nicaragua
European Union Ambassador Bettina Muscheidt left Nicaragua on Saturday, just three days after being declared “persona non grata” by the government of President Daniel Ortega. Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada verbally notified Muscheidt that she should leave the country after the EU delegation demanded freedom for “political prisoners” at the United Nations General Assembly last week. Ortega’s government also announced on Friday that it was suspending diplomatic ties with the Netherlands. “The Netherlands regrets the disproportionate decision by Nicaragua to break off diplomatic relations,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said via Twitter on Saturday. “We will discuss our next steps with the EU,” he added. (https://whtc.com/2022/10/01/eu-ambassador-leaves-nicaragua-in-week-of-diplomatic-tensions/) Nicaragua’s Vice President Rosario Murillo also announced this week that the Central American country would not accept the new U.S.-appointed ambassador Hugo Rodriguez as its representative in Managua. In March, Ortega’s government expelled the Vatican’s ambassador to Managua, Waldemar Sommertag.
Newsline: French Embassy in Burkina Faso attacked after coup
The French Embassy in Burkina Faso’s capital was attacked on Saturday after supporters of the West African nation’s new coup leader accused France of harboring the ousted interim president, a charge French authorities vehemently denied. Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba was overthrown late Friday only nine months after he’d mounted a coup himself in Burkina Faso, which has been failing to effectively counter rising violence by Islamic extremists. Comments by a new junta spokesman earlier Saturday set into motion an outburst of anger in Ouagadougou, the capital. Damiba’s whereabouts remained unknown but France’s Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement: “We formally deny involvement in the events unfolding in Burkina Faso. The camp where the French forces are based has never hosted Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba nor has our embassy.” (https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/10/01/protesters-attack-french-embassy-in-burkina-faso-after-coup) Video on social media showed residents with lit torches outside the perimeter of the French embassy.
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