January 11, 2026 | 08:05 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A protester against the regime scaled the balcony of the Iranian Embassy in London on Friday, January 9, 2026, and tore down the Islamic Republic's flag. They replaced it with the pre-1979 "Lion and Sun" symbol of Iran, as captured in a video.
According to Fox News, the protester climbed the front of the embassy building in Kensington before removing the regime's flag and hoisting the symbol associated with Iran's monarchy before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Meanwhile, a large crowd of Iranian protest anti-regime demonstrators cheered.
The Metropolitan Police said officers responded to the report and arrested two individuals. One was arrested for trespassing and also for assaulting an emergency worker, while another was arrested for trespassing.
Police said they are also seeking another suspect for trespassing. It is unclear whether the flag-tearing protester is among those arrested. The Iranian Embassy in London has not commented.
The protest at the embassy comes as Iran faces its most significant wave of unrest in years. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned the regime that the United States will protect the protesters if necessary.
Potkin Azarmehr, a British-Iranian journalist, said the unrest sharply contrasts with the 2009 Iranian Green Movement. Back then, demonstrators openly questioned whether the Obama administration supported them.
"What a contrast to Obama’s time, when protesters in Iran were chanting, ‘Obama, are you with us or with them?" Azarmehr told Fox News Digital.
As of Saturday, at least 72 people have been killed and over 2,300 detained in the Iran-based protests, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency. Some demonstrators have been chanting in support of the late Iranian king, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who died in 1980. His son, Reza Pahlavi, openly called for the demonstrations to continue. The Iranian regime has also cut off internet access nationwide.
In a press conference in Washington, DC, on Friday, Trump said Iran is facing increasing pressure. "Iran’s in big trouble," Trump said. "It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching the situation very carefully."
Read: Son of Ousted Iranian Shah Urges Protesters to Prepare to Take Over City Centers
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