Emboldened by Trump, Iranian dissidents demand overthrow of rulers
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Emboldened by Trump, Iranian dissidents demand overthrow of rulers
Reuters-Feb8th2025
By John Irish and Clotaire Achi
PARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Thousands of opponents to Iran’s authorities rallied in Paris on Saturday, joined by Ukrainians to call for the fall of the government in Tehran, hopeful that U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign could lead to change in the country.
The protest, organised by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is banned in Iran, comes as two of the group’s members face imminent execution with a further six sentenced to death in November.
“We say your demise has arrived. With or without negotiations, with or without nuclear weapons, uprising and overthrow await you,” NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi said in a speech.
People from across Europe, often bussed in for the event, waved Iranian flags and chanted anti-government slogans amid images deriding Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Hundreds of Ukrainians accusing Iran of backing Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war against Ukraine joined the protest.
Iryna Serdiuk, 37, a nurse turned interpreter originally from the embattled Donbass region, and now exiled in Germany, said she had come to Paris to join forces against a common enemy.
“I’m happy to see these Iranians because they are opposition. They support Ukraine and not the Iranian government which gives Russia weapons. We are together and one day it will be victory for Ukraine and Iran too,” she said.
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