reaction of students against Britain's anti-Iran policies. The demonstrators themselves issued an official statement, declaring, "Our actions are a spontaneous reaction of revolutionary students and were not ordered by any state organ." In a statement to the House of Commons on 30 November, Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "Iran is a country where Opposition leaders are under house arrest, more than 500 people have been executed so far this year and where genuine protest is ruthlessly stamped on. The idea that the Iranian authorities could not have protected our Embassy or that this assault could have taken place without some degree of regime consent is fanciful". Some analysts, media sources and Iranian opposition groups asserted that the attack was orchestrated by the Iranian authorities, hence the strong British reaction. Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran, Dorsa Jabbari, reported that the Iranian police and various ministries had prior knowledge of the protest, which was organised by the student arm of the Basij. Police reportedly "stood back and let the protesters make their way into the compound". In the words of The Economist, "This was the centre of the capital city . . . If the police had wanted to stop this, they could have flooded the compound with officers and rescued the British. The police, and whoever was pulling the strings behind the attack, chose not to intervene for a long while". Jabbari stated, "Any such action of this scale can never be independent in the Islamic Republic". Dominick Chilcott told the BBC, Iran is a country in which such action is only taken "with the acquiescence and the support of the state". Effect on international schools The École Française de Téhéran (Tehran's French school) is located on property of the British embassy and had its classes in session as the embassy attack occurred. Several windows at the German Embassy School Tehran (DBST), near the British embassy, were destroyed. The French school, the German school, and the British School of Tehran (BST) closed indefinitely. The school board of trustees of the BST voted to have the school permanently disestablished, with the end date being 31 December 2011. The DBST acquired the assets of the BST and established an international section in the former BST buildings. Reactions Within Iran Iran's Foreign Ministry expressed regret over the attack, calling it "unacceptable" and said that it happened "despite the efforts made by the Iranian Law