Protesters demonstrate at Swiss embassy in Iran

Crowds gathered outside the Swiss embassy in Tehran on Thursday to protest an American film that has sparked violence throughout the Muslim world. The embassy was evacuated as a precaution, but no one was injured.

Switzerland has represented American interests in Iran since 1980, after the United States formally severed ties with Iran in the wake of the 1979 hostage crisis.

The protest, organised by a radical Islamist student group, resulted in the precautionary evacuation of embassy employees and the involvement of more than 200 police and fire personnel who prevented some 500 protesters from reaching the embassy gates.

Cries of "death to America” and "death to Israel” were meant to denounce an American-made film called "The Innocence of Muslims” which commanded the Muslim world’s attention after its trailer was dubbed in Arabic and posted on YouTube. Protesters reacted to the film’s depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in a negative light. (...)