France arrests 20 after banning rally against political executions in Iran

French police arrested around 20 people in Paris on Saturday as demonstrators gathered for a protest against repression and executions in Iran, defying an official ban.

Several buses arrived at Place Vauban in central Paris despite police having banned the rally over what they said was concerns about potential clashes “in the current particularly tense national and international context.”

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the location, an AFP correspondent saw.

Police issued orders for the crowd to disperse and a score of people were arrested, a police source told AFP.

“They arrested about 20 people for no reason,” Afchine Alavi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told AFP.

“On the protesters’ side, there is no violence. Police dispersed many people and are preventing others from joining,” Alavi added.

The NCRI is the political arm of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, also known by its Persian acronym MEK), which is designated a terrorist group by Iran.

The group has organized numerous protests in Paris without incident, including in recent months during nationwide anti-government demonstrations in Iran and the US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic Republic.

Some protesters carried signs reading “Neither shah nor mullahs.”

Alavi said police used pepper spray and that several protesters were injured.

Organizers filed an emergency motion to overturn the ban but a Paris court upheld it on Saturday morning.

The ban was ordered Thursday evening hours after a call between France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, during which they discussed the latest developments to end the Iran war.

France’s foreign ministry rejected an allegation by the NCRI that the ban was linked to the call.

The demonstration — expected by organizers to draw up to 100,000 people — aimed to raise awareness about a wave of executions in Iran during the Middle East conflict.

The protest was organized by Iranian diaspora groups, as well as French and international NGOs.

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