MEK SET UP CAMP OUTSIDE OF EMBASSY, PROTEST CAMP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 STOCKHOLM 000474

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2019
TAGS: PTER PREL IR IQ SW
SUBJECT: MEK SET UP CAMP OUTSIDE OF EMBASSY, PROTEST CAMP
ASHRAF

Classified By: CDA Robert Silverman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: At 1600 on July 28 a group from the National
Council of Resistance of Iran, or Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK),
began an unauthorized, peaceful protest directly outside the
U.S. Embassy. The groups has grown and ebbed in size,
averaging 90 people. The police have authorized the protest
post-facto and are now considering the groups request for a
30-day, 24 hours protest permit. The Regional Security
Officer is concerned about a lack of police and the potential
for the group to grow in strength. The Embassy has contacted
the MFA, Swedish Se cret Security and the Stockholm Police to
officially request the immediate dispersal of the group. At
1845 the police moved the group to a park 300 meters from the
Embassy where they will carry out their authorized 30-day
protest, under police surveillance. Embassy EAC met (septel)
and is satisfied with the police reaction to date. End
Summary.


2. (SBU) At 1600 on July 28, a political affiliate of the MEK
began an unauthorized protest outside the U.S. Embassy. A
small group of Swedish police accompanied them. Four members
of the group presented documents to the RSO outlining their
grievances. The documents and statements called for the USG
to halt Iraqi police action reportedly taking place against
friends and family members resident at Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
The representatives asserted that the Iraqi actions were
illegal. They called upon the USG to use its influence to
step-in and prevent violence against the Iranian nationals
resident at Camp Ashraf. Once the petition was accepted, the
group voluntarily moved from the location to another location
approximately 150 meters from the Embassy.


3. (C) Four hours into the protest, the police informed the
RSO the group would disperse at 2200 and return the following
morning at 0930 to continue protests in an authorized
location 150-200 meters from the Embassy. However, at 0045
July 29, the police advised the RSO that they had authorized
the group to move to a location 30 meters in front of the
Embassy. Police set up barricades to keep the protesters to
a single location. The protesters have set up a tent,
complete with a generator, and portable toilets.


4. (C) The protesters remained at this location until
approximately 2300. At this time, they were granted a three
day permit to demonstrate in front of the U.S. Embassy. The
RSO, Marine Security Guard Detachment and other security
elements in the Embassy went and remained on heightened alert
until 0700 hours on July 29. At this time, the group
submitted a second petition to the Swedish Police to extend
the protest for thirty more days.


5. (C) This morning the CDA contacted MFA Director-General
for Political Affairs Bjorn Lyrvall and Minister of Justice
Chief of Security Policy Nils Oberg to express the Embassy's
position that the group must be dispersed. The message was
echoed by the RSO the to the police and the Station Chief to
the Swedish Se cret Security. The Embassy cited the following
as reasons for the request: a) MEK is on the U.S. Terrorism
list; b) the demonstration began without a permit; c) the
group's present location can be used in surveillance of
Embassy staff, guests and visitors; d) the group's location
interferes with traffic flow and public transportation
access; e) the group's behavior, including loud-intimidating
chanting, is a disturbance to Embassy visitors and staff.

6. (SBU) The Swedish authorities took the Embassy's concerns
seriously and around 1845 the group was moved to a park 300
meters away.

Swedish Media
--------------


7. (U) Swedish media have not reported on the demonstration
outside the Embassy. There was a small item in the July 29
edition of leading Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet from an
AFP-TT wire service report that four Iranians were killed,
around 300 injured and at least 50 arrested in an Iraqi
police raid on Camp Ashraf. There were further reports on
Swedish radio news during the day on July 29 about the events
at Camp Ashraf, including from a Swedish correspondent based
in Amman, Jordan. There was no mention of the demonstration
outside Embassy Stockholm.

Background
--------------


8. (U) The Mujahideen-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO) is a
Marxist-Islamic terrorist organization that reportedly
represses its members through cult-like practices. The MEK
was formed in the 1960s in opposition to the Shah and,

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consequently, targeted both Iranian and American interests.
Because of allegations it aided Saddam Hussein in suppressing
Kurdish and Shi'a uprisings in Iraq following the Gulf War,
the MEK is also considered a terrorist organization by the
current Iraqi government.
SILVERMAN