France bans Iranian Resistance rally over risk of attack

The annual rally was scheduled for July 1, but Paris police banned it over security concerns.

Published: June 20, 2023 2:08pm

France banned an Iranian opposition group from hosting an upcoming rally in Paris over the threat of potential attacks. 

The National Council of Resistance of Iran on Monday said it would "employ all legal and political avenues to challenge and file a complaint against this unjustifiable prohibition."

The annual rally was scheduled for July 1, but Paris police told Reuters that the rally was banned due to the risk that it could "generate disturbances to public order due to the geopolitical context."

The rally had been held every year since 2008, but France said because of the recent protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's morality police, a "tense context" had developed, creating "very significant security risks" for the resistance gathering.

The resistance group, which was founded in 1981 in Tehran and advocates for overthrowing the Islamic Republic and installing its own government, said that the Iranian government's pressure on France to ban the rally "reflects the mullahs’ utter fear over the rally organized thousands of kilometers from Iran."

The organization pledged to employ all legal and political tactics to challenge and file a complaint against the ban. 

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

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