TEHRAN – An Iranian lawmaker has denounced the French government’s crackdown on the protests that erupted in the wake of the killing of a teenager by a police officer. 

Yaghoub Rezazadeh, who is a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told parliamentary news agency ICANA that protests in France have broken out over human rights violations. 

“I condemn the suppression of the peaceful demonstrations of the French people. These unrests have broken out due to people's dissatisfaction with the French government and the lack of respect for human rights and the current situation in this country's society. But the police intervened in this matter with very violent actions, to the point where a 17-year-old teenager was also shot dead in these recent disturbances,” he said. 

Rezazadeh added, “The French government is obligated to respect human rights and avoid resorting to force and violence against the people of its country, so the French statesmen must peacefully follow up on the demands of the people.”

He noted, “Unfortunately, these events happened while Westerners, especially France, are among the most demanding countries in human rights issues. They are countries that interfere in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of human rights but do not respect human rights themselves.”

The Iranian lawmaker said, “The French government is responsible for violating human rights. Of course, this is not a new thing and we have seen human rights contradictions many times in France, Germany, Italy and other European countries.”

He stated, “The United Nations should ask the French government to end these contradictory behaviors. Macron's government must meet the demands of its people while ending the violence.”
Major French cities have been gripped by angry protests and riots after the fatal shooting of a teenage boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent during a routine traffic stop.

In a sign of the surging unrest, 40,000 police officers had been deployed across France on Friday night in comparison with the 4,000 that were mobilized only two days earlier.

On Tuesday, in the western town of Paris, French police opened fire at the teenage boy during traffic stop, fatally shooting him in the chest. The victim has only been identified as Nahel M and died at the scene.