By Navid Felker
On Friday 15th November, thousands of Iranians took to the streets in response to the regime’s announcement that fuel prices were going to dramatically increase. Since then, the protests have spread and it has turned into the most significant uprising in since the regime took power four decades ago. What started off as a protest for a specific economic issue evolved into (yet another) loud call for regime change.
The outcome of this protests depends largely on the response of the international community. The President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Mrs Maryam Rajavi has called on the European Union and its member states to back the people of Iran in their legitimate demands for freedom, democracy and human rights.
Number of #Iran uprising martyrs surpasses 750; a manifest case of crime against humanity in 21st century. Khamenei, Rouhani, other regime leaders must face justice #IranProtestshttps://t.co/wpU7SRUpYB pic.twitter.com/MbbTgFci4g
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) December 3, 2019
The leader of the Resistance is also calling on the heads of state in the European Union to take action, urgently, to stop the brutal treatment of protesters in Iran. More than 1000 protesters have been killed – many shot in the head or chest. Thousands of protesters have also been arrested and detained. Mrs. Rajavi has also urged the United Nations to send a fact-finding mission to Iran to assess the situation on the ground and to act so that there are no further state-ordered killings.
The Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader –Ali Khamenei – has ordered security forces including the notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to open fire on the protesters with the aim of dispersing them. The regime has also implemented a major blockage on internet services. It not only wants the people to stop communicating with each other and the opposition network outside the country with regards to the coordination of protests, but it also wants to stop the rest of the world finding out about what is really happening in the country.
Protests have spread to more than 176 cities in almost all provinces across Iran. People have been heard openly and explicitly calling for regime change – chanting “Down with Khamenei”, “Down with the dictator” and “Down with Rouhani”. Protesters have also been heard chanting “We will not rest until we gain our rights”, showing their determination.
The people have also been displaying huge amounts of courage because they are risking arrest and (literally) their lives in order to make their voices heard. The regime is incapable of reform and the people know that this is their only option if they ever want to be free from the rule of the mullahs.
The Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI) intergroup in the European Parliament has been supporting the main opposition to the Iranian regime since its inception in 2003. The group has the support of many Members of European Parliament across many different political groups. It has released a statement with regards to the current Iran uprising, saying that the regime must be stopped in its brutal crackdown on protesters. The group expressed its horror about the news that thousands of people have been arrested, thousands more have been injured and hundreds killed.
