Thousands march in France to show solidarity with Iranian protesters

By Esra Taskin

PARIS (AA) - Nearly 12,000 people held a march Monday in the French city of Strasbourg to show solidarity with anti-government protesters in Iran.

The demonstrators marched towards the European Parliament building chanting slogans and demanding the European Union to declare Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a "terrorist organization."

In Paris, meanwhile, the words "Woman. Life. Freedom," which have become the main slogans of Iranian protests, and "Stop Executions in Iran" were displayed on the landmark Eiffel Tower.

The protests in Iran were triggered by the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating a strictly enforced Islamic dress code.

Iranian authorities have sought to pin the blame for her death on a heart attack, but her family and many in Iran have rejected that claim, saying she was the victim of police brutality.