The three 'clowns' that interrupted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech in Geneva on Monday just as he was taking the podium gave the first cue to an appearance that was punctured by heckle calls. At its (anti-) climax, delegates from 23 EU countries left the hall.

The rainbow-colored wig-wearing youngsters were Rafael Haddad, Jonathan Hayoun and Jeremy Cohen, three Jewish French students from L'Union des Etudiants Juifs de France (UFJ), the union of Jewish French students.

They positioned themselves at opposite ends of the hall when Ahmadinejad took the stage, and as he uttered his first words whipped out the clown wigs from their pockets and yelled 'racist' at the Iranian president.

The students said they wore clown outfits in order to "show that this speech and the entire conference is a circus." One of the students expressed satisfaction that EU delegates left the conference once Ahmadinejad's speech turned to focus on Israel...

After Ahemedinejad finished his speech, he immediately went downstairs to give a press conference. But waiting for him in front of the press conference room, blocking the doors, were hundreds of protesters chanting "Shame! Shame! Shame!" and holding signs like "Respect Bahais and Minorities" and "Iran Funds Hamas and Hezbollah." Standing amidst the protesters were Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel and Iranian dissident (famously pictured on the cover of TIME) Ahmad Batebi...