EU parliament scene of clashes over banned Iran party

Supporters and opponents of the controversial regime in Iran have come to blows in the European parliament.
 
The heated exchanges on Wednesday came amid calls for EU ministers to remove the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), the main opposition party in Iran, from the EU's terrorist list.
 
UK parliamentarians have joined forces with parliament's Friends of a Free Iran intergroup to call for the ban to be lifted.
 
But supporters of the two factions in Iran almost came to blows when they met outside a meeting organised to discuss steps the council should take to remove the organisation from the list.
 
Opponents of the Iranian regime brought their case to Brussels after the UK court of appeal recently upheld the decision of the UK's proscribed organisations appeals commission in calling for the ban to lifted.
 
The lord chief justice of England and Wales called the ban on the PMOI "perverse" and ordered the UK government to lift it immediately.
 
The Iranian regime subsequently threatened the UK government and insisted they should "act against the implementation of the verdict".
 
The meeting in parliament was organised by Struan Stevenson, a UK Conservative deputy, and Socialist member Paulo Casaca, both co-chairs of the Friends of a Free Iran group.
 
Outside parliament, Belgian-based opponents of the government in Iran held a noisy demonstration and called for immediate regime change in their homeland.

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