About 12,000 people according to the police, from all over Europe, demonstrated this Monday in Strasbourg to ask the European Union to include the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of Tehran, on the blacklist of ” terrorist organizations”.
The procession, submerged in Iranian flags, set off in the early afternoon towards the European Parliament where the monthly plenary session of MEPs began on Monday. ” We come together to make Iranian women and men heard in Europe and to ask the European Parliament to continue to be on the right side of history. “, explained to AFP the centrist deputy of the Swedish Parliament Alireza Akhondi, organizer of the demonstration. ” Without the help of Europe, without us to be their voice, there will be no revolution in Iran “, he added.
The demonstrators were mainly Iranians from all over Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and especially Germany, reports our special correspondent on the spot, Wyloen Munhoz-Boillot. Some arrived on Sunday in buses chartered especially for the occasion, others had to decide to take their car or organized carpooling, because all the trains for Strasbourg were full due to the strong mobilization of the Iranian diaspora. in Europe.
Resumption of the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom! »
Iran has been rocked by a wave of protests against power since the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who died three days after being arrested in Tehran by the morality police for having badly worn the Islamic veil. Several people have been sentenced to death and executed in connection with the demonstrations. Their faces and names were displayed on placards held by demonstrators who repeatedly proclaimed the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom!” is the rallying cry of the crowds currently protesting in Iran.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola spoke as the procession arrived in front of the institution’s headquarters, assuring the demonstrators that MEPs were ” with them “. ” We will urge the international community to respond forcefully to the terror that has been unleashed by the regime on the people in the streets of Iran “, she said.
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(With AFP)