France cancels Paris rally amid feared clashes over Iran opposition

Paris police blocked the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s rally at Place Vauban near Les Invalides hours before it was due to begin, after security services warned that rival monarchist activists and other hostile actors had raised the risk of violence in central Paris. The event was organized by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran.

An intelligence assessment warned of a growing “war of influence” between the PMOI, also known as the MEK, and monarchists backing Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s toppled shah. It cited threatening rhetoric from a prominent monarchist figure, including a call to supporters to “block the route of the PMOI march,” and videos showing him handling a semi-automatic handgun and a 3D-printed weapon being fired. It also said people using Shah-era SAVAK symbols threatened to plant a bomb if the demonstration went ahead.

Organizers had expected more than 100,000 supporters at the Paris rally, which was framed as a show of force against political executions in Iran and in favor of a democratic, secular republic. The event marked the 45th anniversary of Iran’s nationwide resistance against the clerical system, and more than 3,000 figures from 55 countries had signed a statement backing the gathering.

The French foreign ministry denied that it had asked for the rally to be banned or discussed the protest with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a call with Jean-Noel Barrot. Tehran has long demanded that Paris, Washington and Riyadh crack down on the NCRI, which Iran has outlawed.

Hundreds of demonstrators still assembled at Place Vauban near Les Invalides, and police arrested 20 people. The NCRI’s previous Paris demonstration in February 2025 ended without incident. In 2023, a Paris court overturned a police ban on another NCRI rally, days after the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of helping plan the 2018 bomb plot against the group’s gathering near Paris.