Global protests mark one week of Iran war, with demonstrations across Europe, Africa and the Americas showing divided support
PARIS: Lion-emblazoned flags of pre-revolution Iran fluttered in cities across the world as demonstrators took to the streets a week after the start of the war in the Middle East.
Europe, Africa and the Americas saw demonstrations with varied political stances. Some protested against Iran’s Islamic regime while others rallied against the war itself.
A separate group demonstrated in support of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first US-Israeli strikes of the conflict.
Paris witnessed two distinct demonstrations with opposing messages. One gathering supported US-based Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, to head a transition.
Another Paris protest denounced that very scenario, highlighting deep divisions within the diaspora.
“I support Pahlavi who is calling for a revolution,” Masoud Ghanaatian, a 35-year-old student, told AFP at a protest in southern Paris. Participants there carried photos of the late shah’s son and waved US, Israeli and pre-revolution Iran flags.
“He’s a democrat. He can oversee a transition and promises to organise elections.”
Hundreds of pro-Pahlavi demonstrators also gathered in Stockholm, holding up pictures of him and his late father. Farther north in the same city, protesters wearing yellow vests reading “Free Iran” showed stickers that read “No Shah, no Mullah”.
In Amsterdam, protesters snaked along a city canal holding up Israeli, American and pre-revolution Iran flags. They called on the Dutch government to invite Pahlavi to the country and to close the Iranian embassy.
In Israel, anti-war activists and police scuffled during a protest in Tel Aviv’s HaBima Square. Shortly after dawn in Britain, anti-war protesters gathered at an air force base in Fairford holding signs reading “Hands off Iran” and “Yanks go home”.
A demonstration against the war also took place in Cyprus. Outside the US consulate in Mexico City, protesters carried a placard with pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the word “Assassins”.
In the United States, protesters in downtown Detroit carried Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and signs stating “Iran is not our enemy”. In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags.
In Boston, Iranian Americans gathered at Copley Square to call for the fall of the Islamic republic. In South Africa, dozens gathered in front of the US consulate in Johannesburg holding up photos of Khamenei and the Islamic republic’s flag.
Protesters carried pictures of Khamenei and denounced the war in central Tunis. In Cape Town, Iranian pro-democracy activists and supporters of Israel waved Israeli flags at the Albert Waterfront shopping mall.
Several counter-protesters in Cape Town carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians.
