The King

57. The Embassy

The next day almost the entire city had gathered round the embassy. These were ordinary people who, up until now, had only followed the events at a distance. When the gardens of the embassy were full people rolled carpets out over the pavements and onto the square, where new people were constantly coming to sit. The people living nearby opened the doors of their houses so everyone could have access to water.

The shah couldn’t believe what Eyn ed-Dowleh was telling him. His lips trembled and his hand reached for his sword. Eyn ed-Dowleh took a step backwards.

‘And what did you do?’ shouted the shah with rage. ‘Stand by and watch? You’re nothing but a scarecrow. How else would they have dared to storm the prison? How else would they have dared to enter the British embassy? Don’t just stand there in front of me like a puppet in a puppet show. Go and surround the embassy!’

Eyn ed-Dowleh rode to the barracks at once. Then, accompanied by additional troops, he marched to the British embassy. In the meantime the shah had summoned his vizier.

The shah was seething. ‘The British are preparing a coup. Either you straighten them out or I’ll turn to Russia for help.’

‘The shah must think of his health. Anger is harmful to your body,’ said Mostovi Almamalek to the shah in calming tones.

‘I’d rather die than see the British push us into a corner,’ the shah responded. ‘Contact the embassy. Order them to send the demonstrators away or I’ll regard it as a declaration of war on the part of England.’

‘It’s not wise to come down so hard on them right away. The problem is not the British embassy.’

‘The problem is every bit the British embassy. The British are in league with that so-called Tehran committee.’

‘Your Majesty, we cannot keep blaming the British. They have invested a fortune in the southern part of the country. They want a government that will protect their people and their installations.’

‘That government already exists,’ said the shah.

‘What we need for these complex projects are an independent government and a powerful parliament.’

‘The vizier is trying to sell us the slogans of our enemies.’

‘That’s not true. England wants to set up banks in our country. If we have no constitution or court of justice the investors will not materialise. The shah wonders why the British embassy opened its garden to the demonstrators. Your Majesty, England’s demands are exactly the same as those of your subjects, that’s why.’

‘The vizier has expatiated at length, but you’ve missed one important point in your argument. I have visited a number of European parliaments, but parliaments like that will never work here. Power must be kept secretive and incomprehensible.’

‘That will never change. I guarantee it. But I am asking your permission to negotiate officially with the leaders of the demonstrators.’

‘As long as they remain at the embassy I will not give you permission. The British embassy is British territory. First they will have to leave the embassy. Then you may begin talks with them.’

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ said the vizier.

‘We have patience,’ said the shah firmly.

The ayatollahs too were troubled by the new turn of events. If the people were to remain in the garden of the British embassy, it would be difficult for the ayatollahs to provide them with direct support. They would be unable to come to an unequivocal decision. They ended their discussion and went to the courtyard for some fresh air.

Behbahani, the oldest ayatollah, hobbled to the pool, washed his hands and threw some water on his face. He leaned on his walking stick and listened to the bustle in the street with closed eyes. Then he walked up the stairs to the roof. From the edge of the roof he could see the crowds at the embassy, on the pavements and in the square. As soon as the people saw him on the roof they all began to shout: ‘Ya marg, ya qanun, ya marg, ya qanun, ya marg, ya qanun!’

The aged ayatollah incited the chanting crowds with his left arm, his right hand on his walking stick. Then he sat down on the edge of the roof. The crowd shouted even louder: ‘Qanun! Qanun! Qanun!’

Now the other ayatollahs appeared together on the roof. The people shook their fists and stamped their feet: ‘Ya marg, ya qanun!’ It made everything at the embassy shake, from the doors and windows to the fences.

A servant rolled out a large carpet on the roof and the ayatollahs sat down on it with their faces towards the embassy. This was how they expressed their solidarity with the people at the embassy without having to go there themselves.

This act of the ayatollahs made things even more complicated for Mostovi Almamalek. First he sent a messenger to the British ambassador and tactfully asked him to force the demonstrators to leave the embassy. The ambassador, who had seen the ayatollahs on the roof, knew that his position was stronger than ever. He in turn sent a messenger to the vizier: ‘We have no army to drive the occupiers out of the embassy. Personally, I would be very grateful if you would bring this matter to an end. What England wants is to keep the peace.’

Everyone was expecting that a spirit of gloom would descend on the square, but the atmosphere remained cheerful and lively. Fresh bread began coming in from everywhere as well as vegetables, fruit, sugar cubes and biscuits. The people ate together, slept together, smoked their pipes and discussed things with each other. No one knew how long it would go on.

A great silence hung over the palace. It seemed as if the shah wanted to show that he was still unimpressed by the demonstrations. But he couldn’t just stand by idly and watch. The news of people claiming sanctuary in the embassy had spread to other cities, where people had also begun to claim sanctuary in the telegraph offices to support their comrades in Tehran. Prompt action was called for.

The shah, in the person of his vizier, tried to negotiate with the opposition via England. At the same time he spoke with his own advisors and army officers, telling them to prepare for a possible attack on the throne. While all this was going on a Russian messenger was riding back and forth in deepest secrecy between the palace and the Russian embassy.

A week passed. The vizier’s negotiations with a delegation from the bazaar, and his discussions with the ayatollahs, had so far proved fruitless. The opposition refused to budge until the shah met their demands.

The shah felt the situation pressing down on his chest, which sometimes made it difficult to breathe. He had been awakened a few times in the middle of the night by the sound of his own racing blood. He had nightmares. In his sleep he set up his cannon on the embassy square and shot the demonstrators in the embassy garden. No, this could not go on much longer.

‘We’ve got to teach England a lesson,’ said the shah to Eyn ed-Dowleh. ‘Sweep out the embassy garden. Pull down the fences if necessary and get those traitors out of there.’ The shah’s order was clear. His son-in-law put a special unit in place — armed horsemen who were skilled with both swords and guns. It was late in the afternoon when he advanced on the embassy. But another development had taken place the evening before. Horse carts full of illegal weapons had been smuggled into the city.

When the special guards appeared on the embassy square the air became electric. Jamal Khan, still in his imam disguise, left the embassy through a back door and entered a house on a side street.

Eyn ed-Dowleh lined up his men and began to speak. ‘In the name of the shah I am asking you to leave the embassy.’

‘Ya marg, ya qanun, death or the constitution!’ cried the crowd in the garden.

‘People, listen! I do not want to use violence. I am asking you in a friendly way to leave the embassy.’

‘Ya marg, ya qanun!’ was the answer.

‘People! It is a disgrace to rise up in revolt against your own king under the flag of a foreign power. I am giving you a chance. I am letting you go unharmed.’

‘Ya marg, ya qanun!’ the crowd shouted at the ayatollahs.

Eyn ed-Dowleh fired a shot into the air and cried, ‘Everybody out of here!’

The demonstrators didn’t move.

‘Sword!’ cried Eyn ed-Dowleh. The horsemen drew their swords. ‘People! This is my final warning. Leave the embassy!’

‘Qanun! Majles! Edalat! Constitution! Parliament! Court of justice!’ shouted the crowd.

‘Attack!’ cried Eyn ed-Dowleh.

Eyn ed-Dowleh rode straight into the mass of demonstrators who were standing on the pavements. When the square in front of the embassy was empty the horsemen blocked all the side streets. Eyn ed-Dowleh turned to the demonstrators in the embassy once again: ‘I’m giving you one more chance to leave the embassy without the shedding of blood.’

‘Qanun! Qanun! Qanun!’ shouted the crowd.

He returned his sword to its sheath, seized his gun and cried, ‘In the name of the shah, I am asking you to open the gates or we’ll shoot you all down!’

‘Majles! Majles! Majles!’ shouted the crowd.

‘Stand to!’ shouted Eyn ed-Dowleh to a row of horsemen directly behind him.

He aimed his gun at the embassy. Not a sound could be heard behind the fences. The ayatollahs stood motionless on the roof and the women fell silent. Edward Granville Browne waited breathlessly at the window on the embassy’s upper floor.

‘Fire!’

A few people behind the fences fell and suddenly all hell broke loose. The gates swung open and the crowds threw themselves onto Eyn ed-Dowleh and his horsemen. The square became a scene of battle. Jamal Khan, a rifle on his back, had climbed onto the roof of one of the houses on the square. He stretched out on the edge of the roof and took aim at Eyn ed-Dowleh. The bullet hit the man’s shoulder so that his gun flew into the air and he fell from his horse. Three soldiers hurried him away.

Suddenly the soldiers found themselves under fire from every corner. They couldn’t tell where the bullets were coming from. They let their dead lie where they fell and helped remove the wounded. Now that the people had a whiff of power they moved on to the palace.

Eyn ed-Dowleh was badly wounded, so a senior officer took his place. He rode straight to the palace to make his report. Kneeling before the shah he said, ‘Your Majesty! The kingdom is in danger. We have done everything to avoid it, but an armed mob is on its way to the palace.’

‘How did they come by these weapons?’ asked the shah.

‘We haven’t any idea. Suddenly our men were being shot at from the rooftops. A couple of soldiers have been killed and dozens have been wounded, including Eyn ed-Dowleh. But many of the army’s guns have ended up in the wrong hands. I fear the demonstrators have mounted an attack on our arsenal.’

‘We’ve walked into a trap,’ the shah said. ‘My father always warned us about England’s dirty tricks.’ He ordered that a row of cannons be placed in front of the palace gates, and that the entrances to all the streets leading to the palace square be blocked.

When the officer had gone the shah called in the head of the guards. ‘Bring out our cannon!’ he ordered.