Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Pages 52-53

Waging Peace

Ongoing Protests at Iranian Embassy In London

London protesters represented many political factions, including the PMOI, banned in both Iran and the United States. (Photo R. Gaess)

Daily demonstrations continued unabated outside the Iranian Embassy in London to denounce the disputed results of the June 12 election that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gain a second presidential term. Protests were especially intense on July 9, as demonstrators commemorated the 10th anniversary of “the 18 Tir massacre,” the Iranian government’s savage 1999 crackdown on Tehran University students who had protested against government censorship.

While demonstrators were united in calling for broad-based democracy in Iran, differences of opinion were evident among them. Most protesters refused to accept the Ahmadinejad reelection as valid.

Five separate groups comprised the July 9 protests, with each separated from the other by wooden saw horses. Some were supporters of an Iranian monarchy. One pro-Pahlavi leader characterized their particular grouping as an umbrella organization. Some of its adherents, he said, strongly backed the reintroduction of a monarchy headed by the Pahlavi family, while others—probably a majority and certainly younger—simply preferred a constitutional monarchy along the British model as a form of government for Iran.

Also present were supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the pro-reform presidential candidate, who call themselves members of the “Green Wave.” The demonstrators also included Communists, Muslim activists for women’s rights, as well as backers of exiled Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian resistance, and wife of the founder of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).

—Roger Gaess