French police banned a Saturday Paris rally by the National Resistance Council of Iran, a France–Iran dispute that had already drawn attention because the demonstration was expected to bring 100,000 people into the city. The order halted a march the group said was meant to protest executions in Iran.
Paris police cite clash risk
In the ban issued on 19/06/2026, French police said there was a serious risk that clashes could occur between activists holding opposing views and that the march would pass close to several public buildings and diplomatic missions. Police said the gathering posed a risk of violence in what they described as a particularly tense national and international context.
The route detail is the part that turns a general public-order concern into an operational one. A march that moves near public buildings and diplomatic missions gives police a narrower margin for error, especially when they say rival groups may be present and the crowd could be large enough to strain barriers, screening, and crowd control.
NRCI rejects the ban
The National Resistance Council of Iran said the demonstration was cancelled after business hours on Thursday and called the authorities' justification bogus. The group filed an emergency motion to reverse the ban, keeping the dispute in the hands of French authorities rather than the street.
The council said the rally was aimed at executions by the Iranian regime and said it had organised many protests in Paris previously without incident. It also said the rally was meant to draw awareness to a wave of executions in Iran during the Middle East war, after rights groups said more than 40 people have been executed in Iran since the war began and that at least a dozen men have been hanged recently over links to banned opposition groups.
Jean-Noël Barrot and the call
The organisers suggested the ban was linked to a call hours before the Thursday evening cancellation between the French and Iranian foreign ministers. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot did not mention this demonstration or request its cancellation, according to the ministry.
The National Resistance Council of Iran is the political arm of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, also known as MEK, and the Islamic republic outlawed the group as a terrorist organisation. For people planning to attend the Paris rally, the immediate change is simple: the march is off for now, and the emergency motion is the route the organisers are using to try to put it back on the street.
