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Protests in Amsterdam denouncing human rights abuses in Iran

This Saturday, Amsterdam joined the globe in protests denouncing human rights abuses in Iran and showing support for opponents of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmandinejad through its demonstrations across the city. Some of the biggest rallies took place in Amsterdam, London and Stockholm, with more than 4,000 alone taking to the streets of the Swedish capital.

Among the 1,000 people in Amsterdam was Iran’s Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi who led the crowd in chanting: “We want to live in peace. Long live peace”.

Demonstrations also took place in Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna and Geneva, where protesters gathered outside the United Nations’ European headquarters. “We want the United Nations to intervene, an inquiry into the systematic human rights violations in Iran,” said the group United for Iran.

Some people outside the UN buildings wore masks because they said they did not want to be identified by any possible informers to the Tehran regime.

“We are here to show our solidarity with the people of Iran and to urge the Iranian government to respect human rights,” said Tom van den Brand, a spokesman for Amnesty International in Amsterdam.

After the charges of fraud in the June 12 presidential election, there have been mass protests in Tehran. Iranian official reports say at least 20 people died and more than 1,000 were arrested in demonstrations.