(Potkin Azarmehr’s Weblog) | February 20, 2010

Something very fishy was going on at the Millennium Hotel in Gloucester Road tonight. Since two weeks ago Facebook messages were circulating around about the Islamic Republic embassy hosting a dinner party for its UK business partners in the hotel, but the hotel right until this evening was emphatically denying any function was taking place on any of its banqueting rooms. Yet low and behold the Facebook messages were spot on and the Islamic Republic embassy WAS hosting a dinner party for its UK business partners in its Millennium Conference centre.

More surprisingly, the police disallowed a standing picket by Iranian protesters outside the hotel entrance. Instead the protesters were made to walk around the block without stopping and were only allowed to chant at the dinner guests while walking past the hotel. Even stranger perhaps was anyone caught taking photographs of the guests had their cameras taken away from them and had the pictures deleted by the aggressive security that was hired.

A passer by who was there with his young son asked me what was going on? when I explained the situation he was baffled and said ‘My God I thought the police should protect us from them’. I couldn’t answer him, I was just as baffled as him. For all the rants by the Supreme Leader and the Friday Sermon preachers against Britain being evil and everything else, it seemed business as usual tonight at the Millennium Hotel with a more than unusual special security

Follow Potkin Azarmehr on Twitter. Potkin is a well-known blogger on Iran in the U.K.