At Place de la République in Paris, Iranian feminist diaspora voices “No to war” and “No to the Islamic Republic,” rejecting both foreign intervention and the regime’s repression.
On Sunday, March 1, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., a protest rally in solidarity with the people of Iran and against the war was held at Place de la République in Paris, voicing, at once, “No to war” and “No to the Islamic Republic.” The gathering was organized by the independent collective Roja. Its central slogan was: “Woman, Life, Freedom, against foreign intervention and against the Islamic Republic.” Iranian and French groups and activists participated in the rally, from trade unions to the network “Feminists for Jina.”
During the protest, participants observed a one-minute silence in memory of civilians killed in the bombings of the last two days, including children at a school in Minab, as well as those killed in the January uprising. A girls’ primary school in Minab, “Shajareh Tayyebeh,” was directly hit during the strikes on Saturday, February 28, 2026. The school reportedly had 170 students in its morning shift, and local officials said that at least 85 students had been killed as rescue and debris removal continued. Hossein Kermanpour, the Health Ministry’s spokesperson, also confirmed that dozens were wounded in the wider attacks, including at least 92 injured people elsewhere in Iran. State media additionally reported casualties among students in Abyek (Qazvin Province) and in Tehran’s Narmak area, underscoring the scale of civilian harm beyond the immediate strike zone.
Roja’s call stated: “No to Israeli and U.S. military intervention” and “No to the lie that Iran can be ‘freed’ by bombs.” The organizers emphasized that the people of Iran are being taken hostage “between the bombs of aggressors and the repression of the Islamic regime,” framing the rally as solidarity with those trapped between war and state violence. The call spelled this out in the following terms:
In support of people who have been taken hostage between the bombs of aggressors and the repression of the Islamic regime
• No to Israeli and U.S. military intervention
• No to the lie of “freeing Iran with bombs”
• No to a regime that, in the recent massacre, showed it has neither the capacity nor the will to defend the people, and has become the people’s enemy; a regime that today, with internet shutdowns and the absence of shelters, warning sirens, and any public alert system, has left people in danger and alone
• No to opportunists like Pahlavi who call the killing of dozens of schoolchildren and defenseless people “humanitarian war casualties” on the road to “overthrow.”
The call also pointed to conditions on the ground during the war, including internet shutdowns and the absence of shelters, warning sirens, and public alert systems. The organizers stated a clear critical position toward “opportunist pro-monarchy currents,” which, they said, seek to erase the plurality and diversity of Iranian society while supporting the bombing of civilians by Israel and the United States, attempting to appropriate people’s struggles for a “top-down regime change” project.
About Roja
Roja is an independent feminist collective based in Paris. It emerged after the femicide of Jina (Mahsa) Amini and the start of the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” uprising in September 2022. The collective includes political activists from different nationalities and political geographies within Iran, including Kurdish, Hazara, Persian, and others, and connects solidarity with Iran and the Middle East to local struggles in Paris in an internationalist spirit. The name “Roja” draws on resonances across languages: in Spanish, roja means “red”; in Kurdish, roja means “light” and “day”; in Mazandarani, roja refers to the “morning star” (Venus).
