00:00Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Europe to denounce mass killings in Iran.
00:07A human rights monitor says it has verified the deaths of more than 3,000 people during weeks of demonstrations
00:14and a violent crackdown on dissent inside the Islamic Republic.
00:18Now Iranian expatriates and their supporters are demanding an end to the cleric-run regime.
00:25Security was high at the Iranian embassy in London, where more than 1,000 people, many of them Iranians,
00:36had gathered to show solidarity with protesters in Iran.
00:41The Iranian regime has killed several thousand and arrested many more, according to human rights groups.
00:48But the true scale of the atrocities remains unknown.
00:51Due to the tight restrictions in the communications, this also affects many Iranians abroad,
00:58who are anxious to hear from their loved ones.
01:02We are sad. We are devastated. We are heartbroken.
01:06Because we haven't heard from our family in Iran for like a week now.
01:12We don't know what's going on, if they're alive or not.
01:15But here, we are standing beside them, and we are being their voice.
01:21Thousands march through the streets of Paris.
01:24The deadly crackdown appears to have quelled protests in Iran in recent days.
01:29But rallies were held in solidarity in several European cities on Saturday.
01:33It is up to us here, who enjoy our freedom to mobilize civil society, to put pressure on our leaders to take action.
01:41The Iranian people have a right to be helped and assisted.
01:45And above all, they need sincere allies.
01:47Their allies are obviously a strong voice, which must be that of the European Union,
01:52a voice that defends the law and not the pact of brutes.
01:55In Madrid, marchers chanted slogans calling on Donald Trump to launch an operation against the government in Tehran.
02:04For days, a U.S. attack seemed imminent.
02:07But on Friday, Trump thanked Tehran's leaders for calling off hundreds of executions.
02:13Iran's nationwide protests erupted in late December over economic hardship
02:17and quickly grew into nationwide calls demanding an end of the Iranian regime.
02:21The country's supreme leader has blamed them on foreign enemies, including the U.S. and Israel.
02:29And for more, we're now joined by German-Iranian activist, writer, filmmaker and journalist Siba Chakib.
02:36Siba, with all that's going on in your homeland, thousands killed, injured or imprisoned,
02:42and now protests across Europe, are politicians, European leaders, doing enough?
02:48I'm totally aware of the worldwide situation that politicians in Europe and the world, around the world,
02:59have a lot to think and to do.
03:01But of course, the situation in Iran is very, very, very critical.
03:07People have been, thousands of people, as you said in your report, thousands of people have been killed.
03:15I'm very sorry, I have to put in the cable for my machine here, so many interviews and so many reports.
03:29So it's very difficult, but thousands of people have been killed in only a week,
03:37and tens of thousands have been imprisoned.
03:40It is very important that Europe shows that they are really Democrats, that they really care about what's going on in the world,
03:50and that they do something about Iran, sanctions, close the embassies, throw out the ambassadors and the staff,
04:00block the money of Iranian leaders in Germany, in Europe, in the rest of the world.
04:08What about this? How do you feel about the U.S. taking action against Iran's leadership?
04:15Well, that's a very critical point and a very good question, because we have had very bad experiences
04:22with especially the U.S. and before that, the British government taking military action and occupying Iran,
04:32trying to change the regime in Iran, or at least having influence in the change of regime and government in Iran.
04:40And it never took a good end.
04:43But at this point, we trust that the world is watching, that Europe is using its strengths,
04:51so that if the United States takes action, military action in Iran, after the government is toppled,
05:00and they will leave the government to the Iranians and not try to take it over and see it as their own position or area of influence.
05:11Protests have ebbed, and yet it seems the root causes have not been solved.
05:17Has the regime already won?
05:19That's a 10 million dollar question.
05:26Since 47 years and before that, against the Shah again for many decades,
05:34the Iranian people have tried to achieve democracy.
05:39Democracy is really all we want.
05:42It's a process, that's all I can say.
05:50You don't kick out a government that has so much power,
05:56like the Mullah regime in Iran, in two weeks with no weapons and no military means.
06:04German-Iranian activist, writer, filmmaker, and journalist, Siba Shahid, many thanks to you.
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