Iranian opposition rallies in front of EU Council

AFP: Around 5,000 supporters of Iran’s main armed opposition group, the People’s Mujahedeen, demonstrated in Brussels Monday in front of the building where EU foreign ministers were meeting, police said.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran, which called the rally, claimed that 25,000 people took part. AFP

BRUSSELS – Around 5,000 supporters of Iran’s main armed opposition group, the People’s Mujahedeen, demonstrated in Brussels Monday in front of the building where EU foreign ministers were meeting, police said.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, which called the rally, claimed that 25,000 people took part.

The protestors, carrying Iranian flags and portraits of their leaders Massud and Maryam Rajavi, were demanding the removal of the Iraq-based People’s Mujahedeen from the EU’s blacklist of terrorist organisations.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw dismissed the call. “I’ve seen no evidence myself in favour of removing them, because they were and remain a terrorist organization,” he told reporters in the sidelines of the talks.

The 25 foreign ministers were not expected to raise the issue in their discussions on Iran, focussing on Tehran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Association over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.

Iran has allowed the IAEA to carry out tough inspections of what it insists is an atomic energy programme, rejecting US claims that it is planning to produce nuclear weapons.

The British and German foreign ministers Monday called on Iran to “honour its commitment” to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.