Saudi Arabia's embassy in Iran caught fire after protests on Saturday night. Saudi Arabia announced Saturday it had executed 47 prisoners convicted of terrorism charges, including Al Qaeda detainees and a prominent Shiite cleric who rallied protests against the government.
The execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr sparked outrage in Iran, where a large crowd gathered. Some protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the embassy, setting off a fire in part of the building, Iran’s top police official, Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, told the Tasnim news agency early Sunday.
Some of the protesters broke into the embassy and threw papers off the roof, and police worked to disperse the crowd, Sajedinia told the semi-official ISNA news agency. He later said police had removed the protesters from the building and arrested some of them, and that the situation outside the embassy “had been defused.”
Shiite leaders in Iran and other countries across the region swiftly condemned Riyadh and warned of sectarian backlash as Saudi Arabia insisted the executions were part of a justified war on terrorism.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Saudi envoy in Tehran to protest, and parliament speaker Ali Larijani said the execution would prompt “a maelstrom” in Saudi Arabia.
Also executed Saturday were Al Qaeda detainees who were convicted of launching a spate of attacks against foreigners and security forces a decade ago. The extremist group’s branch in Yemen threatened to retaliate last month if its members were executed.
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