WORLD> Middle East
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WORLD> Middle East
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Iran's leader sparks Western walkout at UN meeting
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-20 23:57 GENEVA –Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Israel of being the "most cruel and racist regime," sparking a walkout Monday by angry Western diplomats at a UN racism conference.
Protesters dressed with clown wigs and holding placards repeatedly interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech with shouts of "Shame! shame!" and "Racist! racist!" throwing soft red objects on the podium. Later, about 100 members of mainly pro-Israel and Jewish groups blocked Ahmadinejad's entrance to a scheduled news conference.
That prompted a walkout by some 40 diplomats from European countries such as Britain and France, which had threatened to leave the conference if it descended into anti-Semitic or other rhetoric harshly critical of Israel, which marred the UN's last racism gathering. The boycotting countries expressed concern that Muslim countries would drown out many issues with calls for a denunciation of Israel and a global ban on criticizing aspects of the Islamic faith. "As soon as he started to address the question of the Jewish people and Israel, we had no reason to stay in the room," said French Ambassador Jean-Baptiste Mattei. |
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