Europe, Europe, We Are Iran, Not Them
In recent days, many European cities have been the scene of Iranian expatriates expressing solidarity with domestic protests. On Wednesday, November 20, hundreds of people in Frankfurt and Berlin repeated the slogans of protesters in front of Iran’s embassy and consulate.
The area in front of Iran’s embassy in Berlin on Wednesday, November 20 (29 Aban) was the place where dozens of Iranians residing in Germany expressed solidarity with the protests of people inside the country. At this gathering, which according to participants was attended by 100 to 150 people, slogans such as “High prices are an excuse, the entire system is the target” and “We want neither a shah nor a mullah” were chanted.
This rally was organized at the initiative of the Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners in Iran and the Iranian Political Refugee Center in Berlin. Mila Messafer, one of the officials of the Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners in Iran – Berlin, told Deutsche Welle: “The composition of the crowd was different from the past. Kurds, students, and political activists from various groups were present in the gathering. The left party showed support and the presence of young people was remarkable.”
Ms. Messafer added that there were more police officers in front of the embassy compared to previous occasions: “Perhaps it is due to the pressure of the Islamic Republic, and perhaps they thought the situation is serious enough that the crowd might try to enter the embassy…”
Mehran Behrouz Fahani, a journalist, told Deutsche Welle: “The most important goal of today’s gathering was to express solidarity with the protesting people, and the crowd emphasized that Iran’s future is being determined on the streets and in the neighborhoods, and the world should support the ongoing decisive protests and that the salvation of the Iranian people depends on the streets and urban battlefields.”
At the Berlin gathering, the slogans “Death to the dictator” and “Death to the Islamic Republic” were repeated more than other slogans. The crowd held images of political prisoners, labor movement activists, and civil activists.
Witnesses to the event told Deutsche Welle that the slogans were also repeated in German. The windows of the embassy were dark and police protected the area in front of the closed door.
Simultaneously with Berlin, a large gathering was also held in front of Iran’s consulate in the city of Frankfurt, which began with a moment of silence in honor of those killed in recent protests. Shahnaaz Mortab, one of the organizers of the Frankfurt gathering, informed Deutsche Welle about the formation of a “Campaign for the Defense of People’s Struggle in Iran” and said that the participation of more than six hundred people in this event was encouraging. Ms. Mortab added that some Iraqi and Syrian citizens also participated in this gathering to express not only solidarity with Iranian protesters, but also their opposition to the Islamic Republic’s interventions in their countries.
Bahram Bigdeli, one of the participants in this gathering, noted that the assembled crowd was different in terms of number, composition, and interaction. He told Deutsche Welle that supporters of Reza Pahlavi, Kurds, and leftists took turns chanting their slogans and collectively sang the song “O Iran”: “The slogans were in solidarity with the protesters, the same slogans as inside Iran… Such an atmosphere has not been seen in these years, and this tolerance of each other was interesting and unprecedented.”
Similar gatherings have also been held in Cologne, Hamburg, Paris, Amsterdam, and Vienna. One of the most creative slogans was chanted by Iranians residing in Vienna at their solidarity gathering, directed at European politicians: “Europe, Europe, we are Iran, not them…”
Source: DW
