PROTESTERS ACROSS THE WORLD CALL ON IRAN TO END ITS CLAMPDOWN ON OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
27.07.2009 15:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Protesters across the world called on Iran yesterday
to end its clampdown on opposition activists, demanding the release
of hundreds of people rounded up during demonstrations against the
country’s disputed election, the AP reported.

Groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International backed
a global day of action, with protests planned in more than 80 cities.

The protesters want Iranian authorities to release what they say are
hundreds, or even thousands, of people detained during protests that
followed the June 12 presidential election that returned Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to power.

Inside Iran, as well, Iranian police and pro-government militia
attacked and scattered hundreds of protesters who had gathered
in Tehran in response to the global demonstrations of solidarity,
witnesses said.

Police said about 600 protesters joined a "noisy but peaceful"
demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in London, one of a series
of events in Europe. In Brussels, Belgium, protesters held placards
carrying images of the detained or dead.

In Amsterdam, several hundred people watched Iranian Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi urge the international community to
reject the election outcome and called for a new vote monitored by
the United Nations.

Several hundred protesters gathered behind police barricades just
off Times Square in New York City. One man hoisted a green placard,
splattered with red, that read, "Where is my vote?" The crowd chanted,
"Stop the killing. Stop the torture."

A small group of Iranians in New York have been on a three-day hunger
strike and are holding frequent demonstrations outside the United
Nations to call on the world body to investigate human-rights abuses
in Iran.

In Washington, hundreds marched from a U.N. office downtown to the
National Mall for a rally.

About 80 people wearing headbands, wristbands, or bandanas in green –
the color of Iran’s protest movement – demonstrated in front of the
U.N.’s European headquarters in Geneva, while several hundred people
rallied at Paris’ Trocadero square overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

About 350 people gathered in downtown Vienna, and about 150 protesters
gathered in Rome. In Norway, about 250 Iranian emigres met at a
conference center on the outskirts of Oslo, and about 3,000 people
gathered in Stockholm and others in Copenhagen, Denmark.

There were small protests in the Australian cities of Sydney,
Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and the capital, Canberra.

About 80 people gathered in Tokyo, draping green scarves around their
necks and lighting candles.

In the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, about 20 Iranians – among
them refugees and students – gathered outside the local press club
to protest the Iranian crackdown, yelling, "Death to the dictator!"