The demonstration of Iranians in Paris was held on Sunday, January 18, 2026 at Saint-Michel Square, in solidarity with the nationwide uprising of the Iranian people. The gathering aimed to honor the memory of the victims of Iran’s nationwide uprisings and to emphasize the urgent demand for justice for those killed during state repression.
Participants, who were supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, commemorated the fallen by lighting candles and chanting slogans such as “No to Shah, No to Mullah” and “No to the Dictator.” These slogans reflect the calls heard inside Iran rejecting all forms of dictatorship, both the current clerical regime and any return to monarchy. During the demonstration, Ms. Zinta Mir Hashemi, a member of the NCRI and the Central Committee of the People’s Fedayeen Organization of Iran (OIPFG) delivered a speech:
Zinat Mirhashemi: Black bags, symbols of pain and the indomitable will to resist
First of all, I pay tribute to the martyrs and extend my condolences to the families of the thousands of brave individuals who took to the streets and were met with the bullets of Khamenei’s mercenaries. The names and images of the martyrs are before our eyes. These are not just names; they are reminders, reminders that the struggle continues and that we stand firm to the very end. Their memory and their struggle are eternal.
The black plastic bags in which their bodies were placed and, in some cases, returned to their families in exchange for millions of tomans are evidence of the crimes committed by this regime. A horrific crime. A massacre. The death of a generation that seeks freedom and opposes despotism. These bags are symbols of the pain, suffering, and demands of these angry women and men, those who remained in the streets to free themselves from tyranny and became victims of the dictatorship of the Supreme Leader.
The bodies inside these bags will further stain the record of all those who closed their eyes to this crime, and who continue to do so. What has taken place in Iran over the past three weeks once again shows that the Iranian people have decided to bring about the downfall of the religious dictatorship themselves and to create a revolution whose goal is freedom, democracy, and social justice.
A revolution that was hijacked in 1979, hijacked by religious despotism and reactionary fundamentalists. The Iranian people deserve a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state. Freedom cannot be achieved by returning to the past. Replacing a religious dictatorship with another form of imposed power, so-called monarchy, will not lead us to freedom.
Thank you for listening.
