Iranian activists marched from Place de la République to Place de la Nation in Paris on October 2, 2022. STEFANO RELLANDINI / AFP
Several thousand people demonstrated in Paris on Sunday October 2 to condemn the repression of demonstrations in Iran sparked by the death of young Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the vice squad.
Like their counterparts in Los Angeles and Toronto, also strongholds of the Iranian diaspora, the activists marched from Place de la République to Place de la Nation, the traditional route of major Parisian movements.
In several cities around the world, like here in Paris, demonstrators gathered to denounce the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by vice squads in Tehran on September 13 for “inappropriate dress”. STEFANO RELLANDINI / AFP
The demonstrators chanted the slogans “Join the first feminist revolution! and “Mahsa Amini, your name has shaken the tyranny of the ayatollahs,” despite some heavy downpours. “Death to the Islamic Republic”, “Death to the Dictator” and “Mrs. Life. Freedom”, the demonstration code in Iran, were also heard.
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According to the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), at least 92 people have been killed in Iran in the crackdown on protests that broke out two weeks ago following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police.
Anti-government protests continue
President Ebrahim Raisi again accused Iran’s “enemies” of “conspiring” against his country and said their attempts “failed” as anti-government protests, the largest since 2019, continue. The trigger for the protest movement was the death of the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd on September 16, three days after her arrest for violating the country’s dress code, which requires women in particular to wear a veil.
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Left-wing figures, including Socialist Party First Secretary Olivier Faure, deputy ecologist Sandrine Rousseau and LFI (Far Left) MEP Manon Aubry, took the floor, drowned out by catcalls from an Iranian diaspora known for its political diversity is.
Demonstrators also protested when mention was made of the recent meeting in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raïssi. “French government flirts with mullahs while mullahs kill women,” read a slogan next to a photo of the two men shaking hands.
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