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Thousands of opponents of the Iranian
government demonstrated in Brussels on Monday, demanding the European Union
harden its policy on Tehran and remove a key exiled opposition group from
its list of terror groups.
Waving banners declaring "The Mullahs are the
terrorists", Iranian exiles called for referring Tehran's nuclear programme
to the U.N. Security Council, as Washington is seeking.
Rally organisers said over 25,000 joined the protest outside an EU
ministers' meeting. Police put the figure at 4,500.
The EU put the People's Mujahideen Organisation (MKO), the main armed
Iranian opposition group, on its list of terrorist organisations in early
2002. It found that prior to the U.S.-led Iraq war, the group had used the
country to attack Iran and had several camps equipped with tanks, guns and
helicopter gunships.
MKO supporters point to a recent decision by the U.S. military to give its
members protected status in Iraq after establishing they had not been
combatants there.
EU officials were, however, unwilling to reassess the MKO. "I have seen no
evidence in favour of removing them (from the terrorist list), they were and
remain a terrorist organization" British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told
reporters. "The answer to that is 'no'."
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