In a statement on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the German police have moved the squatters who had illegally occupied the former Iranian embassy in Bonn since March 8. He added that the site has been handed over to the consulate of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Frankfurt.
“With our pursuits, the German police carried out a raid on the former Iranian embassy in Bonn and drove the squatters out,” Ghasemi said.
He said these “opportunistic” and “adventurous” squatters were four in number, adding “they had taken advantage of the abandoned state of the building without permission and illegally occupied the embassy.”
On Wednesday, Ghasemi confirmed the unlawful occupation of the former Iranian embassy in Bonn by a group of people, which has been left abandoned after the relocation of the embassy to Berlin. The occupants had entered the building through a window.
Authorities had been reluctant to order the squatters to leave the premises, since the “building is not an exterritorial site any more but an empty building owned by the Republic of Iran, it does not enjoy a special protective status anymore," according to the police spokesperson.
However, the squatters could face charges for unlawful entry and possible property damage if Iran decides to file a criminal complaint against them.
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