Unrest was sparked after the government announced a hike in petrol prices, and quickly turned political. Amnesty International has said at least 161 people have been killed, but Tehran has rejected this figure.
ADVERTISEMENTIranians in France are demonstrating against a recent crackdown on protests in their homeland. Unrest was sparked in Iran, one of OPEC's biggest oil producers, after the government on 15 November announced a hike in petrol prices, and protests quickly turned political.
Some 200 Iranian opposition protesters gathered in central Paris on Monday. Among them was Perviz Khazai, representative for the Nordic and Baltic countries of the National Council of Resistance in Iran. He said: "There has been an uprising in almost 200 cities in Iran, the news was spread all over the world, the people are getting into the streets but they are killed, massacred... many thousand are in prison."
Amnesty International has said at least 161 people have been killed in the protests, but Tehran has rejected this figure.
Iranian leader Khamenei has described the violence as the work of a "very dangerous conspiracy". His government has blamed "thugs" linked to its opponents in exile and the country's foreign foes, namely the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Protesting in Paris, president of the NGO Defence of the Iranian Political Refugees Habibi Hassan said: "We call the international community and the French government to help those who are in danger of death. The Iranian people who demonstrated will today be repressed for having demonstrated against the Iranian regime."