Global Rallies Support Iran Protestors

Over 90,000 Protest In Paris; 4,000 March In Hamburg, Germany

(CBS/ AP)  Thousands of people gathered north of Paris on Saturday to support Iranian opposition protesters and an Iranian exile group pushing to be rid of a terrorist label.

Crowds spilled out of buses and filled the fairground in Villepinte under drizzly skies. Organizers said 1,000 buses were hired to bring protesters from around France and Europe, including legislators from several countries.

The rally was organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Organizers said 90,000 people turned out. Police estimates were not immediately available.

The France-based umbrella group includes the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, which was recently removed from the European Union's list of banned terrorist groups. The group, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq is trying to persuade the U.S. to stop classifying it as a terrorist group, as well.

The leader of the National Council, Maryam Rajavi, spoke Saturday to huge cheers, hailing the importance of resisting Iran's leadership.

The people in the crowd "want an end to the clerical dictatorship in Iran and they want a secular democracy which is represented by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi," said Alireza Jafarzadeh, one of the organizers of the French rally.

The group organizes rallies in France every year. This year, the standoff over Iran's presidential election results has drawn new attention to groups opposed to the cleric-led Iranian government.

The demonstrators in France are not supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi but are expressing solidarity with Iranian opposition protesters, who have rallied in Tehran for several days to demand a new presidential election. Iran's rulers are facing their greatest internal challenge since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran participated in Iran's Islamic Revolution. But it soon fell out with the clerics in charge of the country, and launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings in an attempt to topple the government.

The group's supporters argue it no longer engages in armed struggle in its quest for a new leadership in Iran, and they have won several court cases in Europe in recent years.

The group is also seeking international support for some of its members confined in a camp north of Baghdad called Ashraf City. Iraq's government has called for the members of the group - which was allied with Saddam Hussein before his ouster from power in 2003 to be deported.

At Saturday's rally, many protesters wore yellow vests reading "Viva Ashraf" or "Our Choice: Maryam Rajavi."

In Hamburg, Germany, some 4,000 people marched through the city to protest Iran's election result. Police said most were of Iranian origin and the event passed peacefully.

In the United States, responding to reports of continued violence in Tehran and following a warning by Iran's Supreme Leader that further election protests may lead to "bloodshed and chaos," President Barack Obama said Saturday, "The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching."

With the tensions rising in Iran, Mr. Obama is monitoring the situation with senior advisors, but he continues to maintain his reserve on the topic. Rather than directly criticizing the Iranian government's actions, he expressed more lofty thoughts.

In a statement released this afternoon by the White House, the president said, "We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

[zonkzilla]

The Obama haters are truly pathetic people and their comments are mindless and childish.
I wish the Iranian freedom fighters well and give them my moral support which is all I can give at this time.

[jamesguy]

The person the protestors are supporting is a horrible man, no better from an American prospective than Amadinajad.

[speakinup22]

This might be a correct statement, but we still support the idea of free and uncorrupt elections. The Conservatives don't support hegemony, as the left would LIKE to believe we do. We support FREEDOM with the least amount of government intervention possible.

Barry seems to be on the opposite end of both of these points of view.



Spend on left ! Complain about what the Democratic Congress did in the past, and REALLY spend our kids money with Pelosi, Harry, and Barry in power.

[bajajohn1]

Are you saying this is merely a choice such as electing Bush or Nixon? Who was the worst?

[South-of-Heaven]

Nothing gets a Christian Conservative more excited than seeing blood being spilled....

[bajajohn1]

yes, as long as the blood belongs to someone else...

[nextgenman09]

by ConstantineXI June 21, 2009 5:54 AM PDT
The liberals here are comical.
They purport to defend liberty and freedom and yet they support Obama's reluctance to criticize the regime.
And mind you, when Saddam killed millions, who defended Saddam's right to stay in power?
The American left.
------

How did you come to this conclusion? Was Rush Limbaugh commenting during the commercial break at the Hoot Bumpkin 500?

[glidescube]

Let me thank God that Obama is President, because if a neoCon had won the election I think we would have been in a new unneeded war right about now.

[speakinup22]

What a assinine thing to say. Like there is ANY basis for the statment.

It is doubtful that a liberal believes in God, first off.

Secondly, I see "FEAR tactics" are still alive and well in the far left.

As for the self destruct happening in Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime, the NeoCons would not be involved other than letting the Peaceful Demonstrators know that they have the moral high ground, and that the world as well as the US supports their freedom of choice, in what was obviously not a well run election.

Crawl back under your rock, lefty.

[YrSoWrong]

Oh, big apologies all around. The Ayatollah doesn't wear a boot, he wears sandals. Easier access for kissing his toes.

[YrSoWrong]

The CBSNEWS Coward Squad invites us to lick the Ayatollah's boot, and they don't just SAY, they DO. Nice work, fellas.

[whitemale08]

Folks, I smell a RAT!

Google reports, like that from Seymoure Hersche and others, about how Bush/Cheney elements still in the CIA associated with British intelligence

are using Twitter and social websites like Facebook, to spread rumors of early election results to de-stabilize the government.

Mousavic, was a 'nobody' and only represented a 'change' from Ahmedinjad for young Iranians.

However Mousavic claimed victory before the poll results were totally in and it was NOT clear that he was in the lead.

In fact Achmedinijad, claimed victory right after Mousavic did and polls showed him clearly in the lead.

This sounds like a classic British-style de-stabilization operation and a trap for Obama to be pushed into a pile of dung by the neo-cons.

[speakinup22]

Pathetic - simply pathetic.

Here we have a REGIME supporter trying to support the DICTATORS in any way he can !

Even feigning being a far left idiot to use their propaganda techniques !

You are pathetic whitemale/female08. Simply pathetic.

[maistir]

Instead of feeding global public opinion on milktoast, the Obama administration ought to denounce the underlying cause of this Iranian crisis: a regime run by clerical frauds that has driven that country into an isolated position hemmed in by sanctions.

[bajajohn1]

One could say, the Iranians over being run by the Muslim equivalents of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson types. Separation of church and state in all nations is a necessity if peace and freedom are to prevail.

[whitemale08]

Now if we can just keep British lobbyist like ex-PM Tony Blair from coming over here to the U.N. with a bus load of Iranians he hires to persuade Obama to Iran with 'sexed-up dossiers',

then we can make it through this decade without another senseless stupid war for nothing.

[whitemale08]

No Iranian is asking to 'bomb Iran' for 'regime change'.

So every Druggie Limbaugh and junkyardog Sean Hannity idiot needs to keep their pie-holes SHUT!

[government_control]

obama = weakness

obama = cowardice

obama = appeasement

[bajajohn1]

government_control=dummy.

[Sloughfoot]

People's Mujahedeen Organization! The Devil's wench would make a more ameiable partner. Why are these dudes hiding under the rocks in the Free Nations of the World? They certainly aren't marching in the streets of Iran. I'd bet most ot the people of Iran would opt for them to stay away. This groups wants only to institute a dictaorship of thugs.

[thusspokezara]

Hey Barack you still want to negotiate with these terrorists, killers, demagogues, and tyrants? Of course you do. Because you are so narcissistic, grandiose, and full of yourself.