Mr Jaafari's comments brought a withering response from Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the UK ambassador to the UN, who said: "Coming from a representative of a regime that is now responsible for the deaths of well over 15,000 citizens, the Syrian Ambassador's comparison of his regime's response with what happened in England last summer was utterly grotesque.
"It just goes to show how untenable the position of the Syrian regime has now become
Approximately 15,000 muslim on muslim have been murdered in Syria compared with five deaths during the riots in England over four days last August.