Anti-Iran Rally In Warsaw Draws Some 3,000 From Across EU Ahead Of US-Led Mideast Summit

Anti-Iran Rally in Warsaw Draws Some 3,000 From Across EU Ahead of US-Led Mideast Summit

Around 3,000 protesters went on a rally in Warsaw on Wednesday to call for a "regime change" in Iran one day before the US-led summit on the Middle East officially kicks off in the city. a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene

WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2019) Around 3,000 protesters went on a rally in Warsaw on Wednesday to call for a "regime change" in Iran one day before the US-led summit on the middle East officially kicks off in the city. a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.

Some of the participants that Sputnik approached did not, however, speak any Farsi and failed to explain what the demonstration was about despite the organizers's stated aim of bringing together Iranians from different countries at the rally.

The summit, jointly organized by the United States and Poland, takes place on February 13-14, with the main discussions expected on Thursday. The gathering stirred controversy after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo billed it last month as a meeting focused on confronting Iran, which he called a "destabilizing influence." The organizers have since formally rowed back on their objective, yet the summit is still considered to be an attempt to build an anti-Iranian coalition.

The rally was organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a France-based opposition political organization, and billed itself a true expression of Iranian opposition sentiment. Protesters were brought to Warsaw by buses, most of them coming from Germany, with almost all carrying Iranian flags.

"We are around 3,000 participants. People come from various countries, from Germany mainly, also from Poland, some from the Czech Republic. But they are all Iranians who think that the current regime in Iran is illegal," Azar Akbari, one of the organizers and an NCRI representative, told Sputnik.

Akbari expressed support for the results of the summit in advance.

"We agree with this summit tomorrow, because we think that the Iranian regime supports terrorism in the world. Opposition has to be a legitimate alternative to this regime," she continued.

Meanwhile, not all of participants of the rally were of Iranian origin. Some of the protesters approached by Sputnik were Polish and spoke neither Farsi nor English the two languages in which slogans of the rally were written on the posters. However, they were all holding Iranian flags.

Another group that Sputnik approached turned out to be Iraqis, not Iranians.

"We are actually from Iraq, not Iran. But we live in Germany. We were brought here by bus, we are in a group of around 30 people," one of the protesters, around 20 years old, told Sputnik.

He couldn't reply when asked what the purpose of the rally was and why he participated in it.

Officials from a dozen countries are expected to attend the event, including Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

Russia, Lebanon and Palestine bowed out of the conference, while Iran was excluded due to its strained ties with the United States, according to Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Bartosz Cichocki.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in January that it would not participate in the Warsaw conference, describing it as a "political project" of the United States.