[Guardian-UK/AFP] Ewen MacAskill - Iranian President Ahmadinejad faced a series of walkouts at the UN General Assembly Wednesday after launching a renewed attack on Israel. Within minutes of his criticism of Israel, delegations from various countries began to rise from their seats and noisily left the chamber. Many other countries had left before he even began, partly in protest over his brutal crackdown on the Iranian opposition after June's election and partly over comments last week again questioning whether the Holocaust had taken place. Delegations from Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand and the U.S. left the room as Ahmadinejad began to rail against Israel, a European source said. Israel was not present when the Iranian leader began his address and Canada had said it would heed the boycott call.
2009-09-24 08:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive