Demonstrations in Europe
June 21, 2009
With banners, flowers and photographs of the violence in Tehran, Iranian-exiles condemned the re-election of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In Hamburg, police said some 4000 people marched through the city, displaying banners reading "We demand new elections" and "Down with the dictator." The Iranian community in the northern German city is among the largest in Europe.
At the Iranian consulate in Frankfurt, several hundred demonstrators gathered, while in the city center some 300 people called for the release of imprisoned opposition supporters in Iran. In Stuttgart, protestors called upon Chancellor Angela Merkel's government not to recognize the official election results.
Massive demonstrations in France
In France, tens of thousands of supporters of an exiled Iranian opposition group rallied outside Paris with demonstrators waving banners reading "In support of the Iranian people."
Scores of busses brought supporters of the French-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) from across France and neighboring countries to the event.
"The people in Iran want a change of system," said NCRI spokesman Javad Dabiran.
Expatriate groups have already held a series of smaller rallies this week in several European countries, and in Brussels about 300 protestors gathered on Saturday in a peaceful demonstration outside the Iranian embassy.
ai/dpa/Reuters/ipj
Editor: Toma Tasovac