Tehran: Tens of thousands marched in Tehran and Baghdad yesterday in annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day demonstrations in support of Palestinians. President Hassan Rowhani attended but did not speak at the main rally in Tehran, which coincided with still seemingly deadlocked nuclear talks between Iran and world powers led by the United States.
In Iraq, thousands of people marched including hundreds of fighters in military uniform on Palestine Street in Baghdad to mark the annual day of solidarity inaugurated by the late Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In Lebanon, the leader of the powerful Shia militia Hezbollah told thousands of supporters that Iran was the only hope of liberating the Palestinians.
In Baghdad, protesters were mainly from Tehran-backed Shia factions, including the powerful Badr, Ketaeb Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl Al Haq militias.
“We tell the enemies, as long as we have this mobilisation of young men, they will not be victorious,” cleric Sheikh Khaled Mullah told the crowd. “We ask God to bring back our Jerusalem and cleanse the land of Iraq from” IS, he said.
As is customary for Jerusalem Day, Israeli flags had been painted on the road for demonstrators to trample on. Iran prides itself on its support for the Palestinians against Israeli occupation, and state media screened the Tehran demonstration live and also aired footage of rallies in Mashhad, Isfahan and other Iranian cities.
Using a Quds Day hashtag, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted: “There are two sides in oppression: oppressor & the oppressed. We back the oppressed and are against oppressors.”AFP
