Paris police arrest 20, use pepper spray as Iran opposition defies rally ban

Defying the ban

On Saturday morning, buses arrived at Place Vauban near the Invalides monument despite a police order prohibiting the rally. The Paris prefecture of police had issued the ban on Thursday evening, citing a "particularly tense" international context and a serious risk of clashes between rival Iranian activists, including monarchists and supporters of the Tehran regime. The administrative court in Paris confirmed the ban on Saturday morning, and the Conseil d'État, France's highest administrative court, rejected an urgent appeal lodged by the rally's organisers.

“They arrested about twenty people without reason. On the side of the demonstrators, there was no violence.”

Several hundred protesters chanted slogans such as "Ni chah, ni mollah" (Neither shah nor mullah), "Down with the dictatorship in Iran", and "French government, shame on you". Some waved yellow flags and held portraits of Iranians executed by the authorities in Tehran.

Police use pepper spray, a dozen injured

According to organisers, including Shahin Gobadi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), police dispersed the crowd and made around 20 arrests. Afchine Alavi, another NCRI member, told the AFP that officers used pepper spray and that about a dozen people were injured. A police source confirmed the 20 arrests to AFP but did not comment on the reports of injuries. Paris police headquarters did not respond to media requests for comment.

“Thousands of people remain shouting slogans and waving flags.”

A rally that aimed for 100,000

The demonstration was called by the newly formed collective Voix d'Iran (Voices of Iran), which groups several associations opposed to the Islamic Republic, including the Association of Iranian Women in France and the Committee for the Support of Human Rights in Iran (CSDHI), alongside the NCRI. Organisers had initially expected up to 100,000 participants from across Europe and the presence of around thirty parliamentary delegations. In the end, only a few hundred gathered.

“We had asked the demonstrators not to come and to wait for the result of the appeal we had lodged urgently. But you cannot control everyone and buses arrived from everywhere.”

Lawyers William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth, who had filed the legal challenge, denounced the lack of a hearing before the Conseil d'État and said the ban prolonged a situation of "arbitrariness" and infringed on the freedom to demonstrate.

Diplomatic backdrop

The ban came just hours after a phone call on Thursday between French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, during which they discussed the latest developments to end the Iran war. The NCRI alleged that the ban was linked to that call, but a French foreign ministry spokesman rejected the claim.

The NCRI and past rallies

The NCRI, the political arm of the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (also known as the MEK), has held regular rallies in the French capital for years, often attended by thousands and featuring high-profile former U.S., European, and Arab officials critical of the Islamic Republic. The latest protest comes amid heightened tensions around Iran's internal repression and the broader war.