West urges Iran to allow protests, recount votes

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran must allow peaceful protests against its disputed presidential election and ensure a
fair result, Western governments said on Sunday, rejecting charges they were interfering in Iranian affairs.
Foreign countries have played no part in supporting the violent street protests that erupted in Iran after its June
12 election, Britains Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.
He dismissed comments from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling on the United States and Britain
to stop interfering in the Islamic Republics internal affairs.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Iranian authorities to recount votes, refrain from using violence
against demonstrators, free detained Opposition members and allow free media reporting of the protests.
Germany is on the side of the Iranian people, who want to exercise their rights of freedom of expression and
free assembly, she said in a statement.
Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling clerics on Sunday: Definitely by hasty remarks you will not be placed in the
circle of friendship with the Iranian nation. Therefore I advise you to correct your interfering stances, in remarks
the ISNA news agency said were directed at US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown.
I reject categorically the idea that the protesters in Iran are manipulated or motivated by foreign countries,
Miliband said. The UK is categorical that it is for the Iranian people to choose their government and for the
Iranian authorities to ensure the fairness of the result and the protection of their own people.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said: We ask the Iranian government to urgently adopt conditions to
create a peaceful solution to the internal crisis. The right to safeguard human lives comes before everything
else.
But Frattini confirmed an invitation to Iran to attend a G8 meeting in Italy next week to discuss stability in
Afghanistan.
In Paris, several hundred people, many of them students and personalities including former Culture Minister Jack
Lang and the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, took part in a demonstration.
The people voted for someone, they voted for Mousavi. Theyre asking for democracy, said an Iranian student
at the University of Paris, who identified himself only as Omid. This wasnt an election, it was a selection, he
said.
In The Hague, about 100 people gathered in front of the International Court of Justice to show support for
protesters in Iran, Dutch media reported. On Saturday, hundreds of people attended a vigil in Amsterdam for
victims of the violence.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said tensions in Iran had added to risks facing the world
economy.
Jewish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world was sympathetic to Iranian election protesters but
added it was unclear whether the unrest would spur change in Tehrans policies.
I have no doubt everybody in the world is sympathetic to the Iranians desire for freedom, Netanyahu said on
NBCs Meet the Press when asked about the street demonstrations that have erupted in Iran since the
disputed June 12 election.
Israeli President Shimon Peres said he hoped the current Iranian government would disappear.
Let the young people raise their voice of freedom for a positive policy. Let the Iranian women, who are a very
courageous group of people, to voice their thirst for equality, for freedom, Peres said in English in a speech to
visiting Jewish fundraisers, applauding Irans pro-reform protesters.
I really dont know what will disappear first, their enriched uranium, or their poor government, said Peres,
whose post is largely ceremonial. Hopefully, the poor government will disappear.