Iranians turn out in force to demand EU policy change

Iran Focus: Thousands of Iranians from as far away as Australia gathered outside the headquarters of the European Union today to demand the removal of the largest Iranian opposition group from the European Union’s list of terrorist groups. They called on the EU to abandon its “failed” policy of engagement vis-à-vis the Iranian regime and adopt a firmer approach to Tehran. Iran Focus

Brussels, Sep. 13 – Thousands of Iranians from as far away as Australia gathered outside the headquarters of the European Union today to demand the removal of the largest Iranian opposition group from the European Union’s list of terrorist groups. They called on the EU to abandon its “failed” policy of engagement vis-à-vis the Iranian regime and adopt a firmer approach to Tehran.

Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) came from across Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia to join the rally at Place Schuman, as the foreign ministers from the union’s 25 member states met inside the heavily-guarded building.

Dozens of parliamentarians, including members of the European Parliament and MPs from European countries, spoke at the rally, voicing strong support for the dissidents’ demand that the PMOI be removed from the EU blacklist.

Protesters held banners reading ‘PMOI is not terrorist’ and said that the PMOI was blacklisted in order to placate the Iranian regime. They called for the PMOI’s removal from the EU terror list.

The crowd of 25,000 Iranians, according to the organizers, stretched for about four kilometers through the streets of Brussels, as jubilant Iranians chanted, “We want justice, we want peace; we want PMOI off your list.”

“The inclusion of the PMOI in the terror list was purely motivated by political considerations,” said Behzad Naziri, a member of the foreign affairs committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of Iranian opposition groups and figures, which includes the PMOI.

“Following the U.S. government’s recognition of PMOI’s status in Iraq as ‘protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention’ and the acknowledgement that ‘after extensive interviews not a single member of the Mojahedin was found to have any links to terrorism,’ keeping the organization on the EU terror list would only encourage the Iranian regime to step up its export of fundamentalism and terrorism abroad,” Naziri added.

Demonstrators also held street displays, including mock executions and a truck carrying an Iranian ‘Shahab-4’ missile.