Who is behind the radicals who attacked the Azerbaijani embassy in London?

Baku/05.08.22/Turan: Yesterday, a radical religious group attacked the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Breaking into the embassy building, members of the group committed an act of vandalism, unfurled religious flags on the balcony of the building and shouted at radical religious slogans. After the local police intervened, the group members were escorted out of the embassy building and detained. Embassy staff were not injured in the incident. The incident is being investigated by local law enforcement.

The British tabloid metro.co.uk writes that after a group of protesters attacked the Azerbaijani embassy in London,  eight of them were arrested. It is not known what sparked the protest, but it was led by a group called the “Union of Servants of Mehdi.”

It is a London-based Shia organization that claims on its website that it wants to establish "civilized rule". Members of this group said that the Azerbaijani authorities are "persecuting" some Shiites in the country. The group said in a statement that their leader had instructed them to "take urgent action" against Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

What was it? Who is behind the provocation?

Security expert Ilham Ismail answers these questions in the  “Difficult Question” program.

According to him, behind this action there are forces that do not want the existence of Azerbaijan as an independent, secular state.

“The accusation put forward by religious radicals that Shiites are allegedly oppressed in Azerbaijan is, in fact, just a pretext. And they are not interested in Shiites. These forces do not care whether any Shiites are in prison, whether they are subjected to violence or not. They are only concerned that Azerbaijan is a secular state and therefore they want to destroy it,” Ilham Ismail said. He is convinced that not some group, but the state is behind this attack.

“Their position is absolutely identical to the position that Iran takes from time to time. It seems that this grouping is against Iran. Let it be. They may be against the existing Iranian authorities. But, in fact, these two forces are identical and both want to put an end to the independence of Azerbaijan. Their goal is to put an end to secular Azerbaijan, to establish Sharia rule in it,” the expert says.

In Ismail's opinion, the "Servants of the Mehdi" would not dare such audacity in a non-democratic country such as China, for example. Because they know they will be punished. Unfortunately, in the UK there is a strange attitude towards such issues.

“Such actions are a consequence of impunity. The British government is very loyal to such groups. They explain this by saying that they are her partners. In what sense? They, on occasion, are used against Iran, and, if necessary, against Sunni radicals. But does this mean that they are allowed to attack the embassies of foreign countries?” Ismail asks.

"The British authorities, in accordance with international legal obligations, were obliged to ensure the security of foreign diplomatic missions," the expert said, adding that the protest of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to the British Ambassador in connection with this attack is not enough. “Stronger and more effective measures need to be taken,” he says. –0-