Some 4,000 Iranians protest in Berlin

Gerhard Schneibel

On Sunday in Berlin's city center, as many as 4,000 Iranians and Germans protested the recent vote in Iran and that country's recent crackdown on protestors and years of “murder and repression.” Hamid Nowzari, director of the organization Iranian Refuges in Berlin, said Sunday's protest was the largest thus far outside of Iran, and that more are planned. Berlin houses less than 5,000 Iranians in exile, but between 10 and 13,000 Iranian immigrants, according to Nowzari.

Hamid Nowzari has only had sporadic contact with his friends and relatives in Iran during the past few weeks, but the director of Iranian Refuges in Berlin is hard at work in his offices organizing protests.

Berlin saw a protest of as many as 4,000 Iranians and Germans in its city center Sunday. Last Sunday another 2,500 people also protested here, and as many as three smaller protests are planned for each week, Nowzari said. Signs held by demonstrators call Iran's domestic crackdown on its citizens after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared victor in that country's June 12 presidential election “murder” and “repression.”

Here, Iranians of many political persuasions have come together to express their support of democracy and human rights. Nowzari himself refused to vote in the Iranian elections because he believes the country's 86-member Islamic organ, the Assembly of Experts, has limited the candidate pool to those acceptable to the regime.

“All factions with different opinions supported the protestors in Iran together. Their will for more democracy and human rights,” he said.

Nowzari also believes that, while political arrests, bans and executions have long been commonplace in Iran, this past election marks the first instance in which the country's religious leadership has acted strongly on the behalf of a single candidate, Ahmadinejad. Three million miscounted votes are just the “tip of the iceberg,” he said.

“For the first time one faction inside the system is trying to pull all of the power to itself. It wasn't like that in the last 30 years, it was a balance, instead,” he said.

Despite the extensive unrest in Iran, Nowzari does not expect a major change in that country's political system. He fears what he calls a “lazy compromise behind the scenes” and said nothing will change until Iran separates religion from its government, grants equality to men and women and guarantees freedom of speech.

He hopes Germany, the European Union, the United States and all democratic governments will refuse to recognize the current Iranian government as legitimate. Iran is in a precarious situation and at risk of becoming a complete military dictatorship, he said.

Nowzari is also concerned about the fate of his friends and relatives in Iran. Contact with them via telephone, cell phone or email has been sporadic because all of those services are subject to being cut off without warning.

When he has been able to speak with them, he's been told about conditions in Iran. Security forces bang on citizen's doors on a daily basis, warning them to stay inside unless there is an emergency. No one is allowed on the street with a cell phone or a camera. The atmosphere is one of fear and repression, according to Nowzari. But, the Iranians continue to protest.