LONDON – *Four people were arrested after they climbed on to a first-floorbalcony of the Iranian embassy in London on Friday and waved flags in anapparent protest against the government in Tehran.*

The four were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage and beingunlawfully on diplomatic premises, a spokeswoman for London’s MetropolitanPolice said.

No one was hurt during the incident and the four were arrested when theycame down voluntarily after around three hours.

Iran’s ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidnejad, tweeted that the assailantswere “advocates of the Shirazi cult” and had replaced Iran’s national flagwith that of their group. He said all staff at the embassy were safe.

Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Sadegh Hossein Shirazi, whose son wasrecently arrested for insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei, has been a fierce critic of Iran’s clerical leadership.

Iranian state television quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying thatDeputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had protested about the incident tothe British ambassador in Tehran.

“Britain is responsible for the safety of Iranian diplomats,” said thespokesman, Bahram Qasemi.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the attackers had carried knives andsticks. Iran’s English-language Press TV said a religious group was behindthe attack, without elaborating.

Images posted on social media showed four men in black attire on thebalcony of the embassy, waving a blue and white flag.

In 1980, gunmen seized the embassy to try to secure the release of Iranianpolitical prisoners. One hostage was killed in the five-day siege, andanother died when British commandos stormed the building, killing all butone of the gunmen.