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Iran-EU: Thousands protest against Iranian government, call for tougher EU action against Tehran |
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Monday, 07 November 2005 |
 Associated Press, BRUSSELS, November 7 _ Several thousand protesters
on Monday took part in an Iranian opposition group's demonstration in
Brussels, demanding the European Union takes a tough stance against
Tehran because of its human rights record and its nuclear program.
The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran mobilized
demonstrators outside EU headquarters where foreign ministers were
holding talks on Iran's nuclear program.
Irish rock star Sir Bob Geldof, who organized the Live Aid concerts and
other campaigns against poverty, made a stopover in Brussels to meet
with members of the opposition group and addressed the demonstration.
"I don't like the nuclear proliferation. I don't like the way women are
treated and I don't like the daily executions in Iran," Geldof told the
Associated Press.
"It strikes me as odd," Geldof added, that "a country with so much oil needs to build nuclear reactors."
Iran says its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity and insists it has no ambition to build nuclear weapons.
The NCRI also urged the European Union to remove its primary member
organization, the People's Mujahedeen, from the EU's blacklist of
terrorist organizations.
The EU foreign ministers were expected to welcome an Iranian offer to
resume talks about its nuclear program but also urge it to take action
on terrorism, human rights and the Mideast peace process.
Iran-EU nuclear talks collapsed in August after Tehran rejected an
incentives package in return for permanently ending uranium enrichment,
which the Islamic republic had suspended in 2004 under a deal with the
Europeans.
Relations between EU and the Iranians further deteriorated after recent
comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in which he called
for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
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