loading . . . Anti-NATO Protest in The Hague: Activists Decry War on Iran and Gaza 1. PROTESTERS HOLDING UP SIGN 2. MASKED PROTESTER HOLDING FLAG 3. POLICE OFFICERS OBSERVING PROTEST 4. SIGN READING (English): "NATO? NO!" 5. SIGN READING (English): "NO IRAN WAR" / PROTESTER SITTING IN WHEELCHAIR 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER FROM IRAN, NIKITA SHAHBAZI, SAYING: "It's heartbreaking to see what's going on. Iranian people have been through a lot. They have been, their uprisings have been crushed time after time. But what is for me the most outrageous point to see is that after two years of genocide in Gaza, killing of women and children, they are expanding their war on Iran for no legitimate reason, only because Iran is defending the rights of Palestinians. This is, for me, the most heartbreaking and outrageous thing, that people are paying the price for the Iranian regime righteously defending Palestinian rights. Our freedom cannot be achieved without the freedom for Palestinians." 7. SIGN READING (English): "NO (EURO SIGN) TO TRUMP'S ARMY - 5% OF THESE NUTS" 8. PROTESTERS STANDING 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER FROM IRAN, NIKITA SHAHBAZI, SAYING: "I feel heartbroken, but it was not only last night, I felt heartbroken from, last week when Israel unlawfully and illegitimately hit the Natanz nuclear facilities. It was a war crime, and it is even worse that the US joined the war and attacked Fordow and other installations in Iran. So I feel devastated. It can trigger a wider war. It can trigger, it has opened the paths for illegal attacks on nuclear installations everywhere in the world, and it is a very worrisome development." 10. (MUTE) PROTESTER ARRIVING ON DECORATED BICYCLE 11. (MUTE) SIGN READING (English): "HANDS OFF IRAN" 12. (MUTE) PROTESTER WITH BICYCLE 13. (MUTE) MANNEQUIN ON BICYCLE IN GAS MASK / PROTESTER STANDING BY BICYCLE 14. PROTESTERS STANDING IN CROWD 15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER, PIPPA BARTOLOTTI, SAYING: "Impunity is now the name of the game as far as NATO countries are concerned, and I am shocked that the rest of the world isn't stepping up, as we women are, to say this is wrong, this is an act of war. We must demilitarise our societies; we must learn about conflict prevention from school age onwards, not militarisation, and we must spend the money not on weapons, but on the things that humans need." 16. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED BY STAGE 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER, PIPPA BARTOLOTTI, SAYING: "NATO either has to be what it pretends to be: a defence organisation, or disband. I mean, there is no need for it. There's no need for this provocation, this 5% of GDP spending on weapons, and most all of that will benefit the military-industrial complex. So let's be very, very clear. This has nothing to do with the needs of people. This is to do with putting money in the pockets of the weapons manufacturers and the banks and the entire military-industrial complex who's just getting richer and richer on the backs of women and children." 18. PROTESTERS GATHERED IN FRONT OF STAGE 19. (MUTE) PROTESTERS WITH PAPIER-MACHE FIGURE MADE TO LOOK LIKE U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP / PROTESTERS STANDING STORY: An Iranian protester who joined a demonstration against NATO on Sunday (June 22) said what was happening in her home country was "heartbreaking" after the U.S. joined an Israeli assault and hit iran's main nuclear sites in overnight strikes Nikita Shahbazi said Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities were war crimes and that she feared the outbreak of a wider war. Several thousand protesters gathered in the Dutch capital to protest the alliance, which will hold a summit there this week. "NATO either has to be what it pretends to be: a defence organisation, or disband", said protester Pippa Bartolotti, who said a target for NATO members to spend 5% of GDP on defence had "nothing to do with the needs of people". https://bit.ly/3Ic0aTy
