Iran Focus: Brussels, Nov. 08 Thousands of banner-waving Iranians rallied outside the European Union headquarters in Brussels on Monday calling for Tehrans nuclear dossier to be hauled before the United Nations Security Council for possible trade sanctions and the removal of the name of Irans principal opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) from the EUs list of terrorist organisations. Iran Focus
Brussels, Nov. 08 Thousands of banner-waving Iranians rallied outside the European Union headquarters in Brussels on Monday calling for Tehrans nuclear dossier to be hauled before the United Nations Security Council for possible trade sanctions and the removal of the name of Irans principal opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) from the EUs list of terrorist organisations.
Organisers estimated the crowd at 35,000 and the rally was attended and addressed by dozens of European parliamentarians as EU foreign ministers met in the EU headquarters to discuss ways of tackling Tehrans nuclear menace.
Since [Iranian President Mahmoud”> Ahmadinejad has come to power, the West can no longer pretend that the Iranian regime is moderate and will change if appeased by the EU. They are after the bomb; they are after Iraq; and they want to stop the peace process in the Middle East, said Hadi Esmaeili, an Iranian exile who had travelled from Berlin to take part in the rally.
Since Ahmadinejad ascended to the presidency, Tehrans nuclear negotiations with the European 3 France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have stalled over Irans refusal to suspend the nuclear fuel cycle, the precursor to obtaining an atomic bomb. The hard-line President has also come under international scrutiny for calling for the destruction of Israel and threatening neighbouring Arab nations that develop ties with the Jewish state.
Masoud Zabeti, an Anglo-Iranian lawyer working in London, said that he had joined the gathering to speak out against barbaric and medieval human rights abuses in Iran, whilst at the same time demanding that the international community refer the Islamic Republics nuclear file to the UN Security Council. We also want to protest against the injustice of the inclusion of Irans main opposition, Peoples Mojahedin, which has been responsible for revealing the Iranian regimes nuclear program and human rights violations, in the terrorist list, Zabeti said.
What we want is a comprehensive oil embargo on the regime, said Omid, who was in his late 20s. Europe should stop giving the regime lifelines and must end its pressures on the Iranian opposition.
In a satellite link to the rally, Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), urged the West to end two decades of appeasing Tehrans rulers. She said that the West should neither appease the regime nor attempt a foreign military invasion; rather, it should rely on the Iranian people and their Resistance to bring about democratic change in Iran.
Highlighting Ahmadinejads remarks, which threatened instability in the Middle East, Rajavi said, Owing to deep crises and fundamental weakness of their regime, the mullahs have in a pre-emptive move declared war on the international community.
“Western countries have condemned the pernicious remarks by the mullahs’ President. Long overdue, the reaction is in no way sufficient. What is necessary is to take action. Western leaders keep silent on the fundamental fact that Ahmadinejad’s warmongering is a direct consequence of their policy of appeasement, the charismatic opposition leader added.
More than half of the British House of Commons and 122 Peers in the House of Lords demand that the PMOI (MeK) be removed from the list of terrorist organisations, British Labour Peer Lord Corbett of Castle Vale said in an address to the demonstrators.
Above the protestors were several large balloons which carried the message, Expel mullahs from UN and Take PMOI off the [terrorist”> list.
The demonstration also included scenes of mock executions and stoning as well a large truck with a model nuclear missile on its back.
