Iranians in Greece protest outside embassy in Athens over Iran's crackdown on protesters

(16 Jan 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++CLIENTS: RESENDING EDIT TO SHORTEN SOUNDBITE IN SHOT 3 TO REMOVE PROTESTER'S CITING OF NUMBERS OF DEATHS THAT CAN'T BE VERIFIED. SCRIPT IS BEING RE-SENT TOO WITH TRANSLATION. ALSO REMOVING PREVIOUS VERSION'S SHOT 2 DUE TO SIGN WITH NUMBERS OF DEATHS THAT CAN'T BE VERIFIED ++

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Athens, Greece - 16 January 2026
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Various of protesters holding signs, flags outside the Iranian embassy in Athens, UPSOUND chanting (Greek): "We will be together till the end"
2. Close of sign reading (English): "Women, life, freedom!"
3. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Meriki (second name not given), Iranian living in Greece for 30 years:
“We are here today to defend those that have been massacred, people have died in Iran over the last 6-7 years (sic). It is unthinkable to witness, to see in 2026 people under 30 years-old dying.”
4. Various of protest
5. Close of sign reading (English): "All eyes on Persepolis"
6. Close of sign reading (English): "We're with our sisters in Iran!"
7. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Nikolas Papadimitriou, Greek national of Iranian origin:
“The demand of these ordinary people is the constitutional transition to a secular regime. Because they are tired of clerics determining their way of life, both in public life and in private.”
8. Various of protest, protesters chanting
9. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Taheri Fara, Iranian, living in Greece for 20 years:
"Of course I have my mother, a sick woman, and I have had more than a week to hear news, I don’t know any news about her. We all also have relatives who have gone out, and we worry deep inside. We don’t know if they have been arrested, if they are among the dead without us knowing - something you might not believe. Every day I open my phone and read, trying to find something, to see if I might find them among the dead, but unfortunately now information comes out drop by drop so we do not know what is happening.”
10. Various of protesters chanting
STORYLINE:
Iranians living in Greece gathered outside the Iranian embassy in Athens on Friday evening, over Iran's crackdown on protesters.

Protesters chanted, waved flags and held signs that read "We're with our sisters in Iran!" and "Women, life, freedom!"

Iran's government has been shutting down access to the internet and limiting phone calls for days, making it nearly impossible for Iranians in the diaspora to find out if their families back home are safe.

Taheri Fara, an Iranian protester who living in Greece for 20 years, was waiting on news about her mother.

"Every day I open my phone and read, trying to find something, to see if I might find them among the dead, but unfortunately now information comes out drop by drop so we do not know what is happening,” said Fara.

Protests that began Dec. 28 over an ailing economy and morphed into protests directly challenging the country’s theocracy seem to have stopped. There have been no signs of protests for days in Tehran, where shopping and street life have returned to outward normality, though a week-old internet blackout continued.

Authorities have not reported any unrest elsewhere in the country.

Still, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Friday put the death toll from demonstrations at 2,797, and that number continues to rise.

President Donald Trump took the unusual step on Friday of thanking the Iranian government for not following through on executions of what he said was meant to be hundreds of political prisoners.


AP Video by Lefteris Pitarakis

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