Iran Focus: Paris, Jul. 01 Tens of thousands of Iranians converged in an exhibition centre north of Paris on Saturday and urged the European Union to end all negotiations with Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons activities and instead support the people of Iran to bring about democratic change in their homeland. Iran Focus
Paris, Jul. 01 Tens of thousands of Iranians converged in an exhibition centre north of Paris on Saturday and urged the European Union to end all negotiations with Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons activities and instead support the people of Iran to bring about democratic change in their homeland.
Organisers stated that the gathering had the support of over 230 parliamentarians from various European countries and was attended by some 30,000 people.
Participants at the rally urged Western governments to support the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) which they said was the only force capable of brining about change in Iran without the need for a foreign military intervention.
With a voice louder than ever, we again say, the only option, the only correct path and the only correct answer to the Iranian problem is the establishment of democracy. We say no to war, no to appeasement, yes to the third option: which is democratic change by the Iranian people and their Resistance. We say that the great nation of Iran itself has the capability and the capacity to change its own destiny to achieve democracy. And it undoubtedly will, NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi told cheering supporters.
Rajavi presented the outlines of the NCRIs program for a future free Iran. We seek a pluralistic republic based on the principle of separation of church and state in which all individual, political and social freedoms and equality for men and women will be guaranteed. We will defend the abolition of the death penalty. We demand peace, mutual respect in international relations, good neighbourliness and the establishment of diplomatic relations with all countries of the world. The Iran of tomorrow will be a non-nuclear country and devoid of weapons of mass destruction, she said.
She accused the West of sacrificing human rights in order to safeguard its own interests. The West must reverse course and respect the will of the Iranian people to establish democracy.
Today, we are not asking [the West”> for anything; neither money, nor weapons. But we demand that you remain neutral in the struggle the Iranian nation is waging to attain freedom and democracy. We are demanding that you remove the Peoples Mojahedin Organisation of Iran from the terrorist list and recognise the right of the Iranian people to resist dictatorship, she added.
Among the speakers at the gathering were former French Prime Minister Edith Cresson, former Algerian Prime Minister Sid Ahmad Ghozali, and parliamentary delegations from the three European countries leading negotiations with Tehran – France, Britain, and Germany.
Lawmakers from Italy, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Canada, and Australia also addressed the rally while several members of the United States Congress sent messages of solidarity.
