Brussels - Several thousand supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) gathered in Brussels' European quarter Tuesday to celebrate the European Union's removal of the group from its list of terrorist organizations.

Campaigners waving yellow balloons also called for the group's formal political recognition in the aftermath of the EU decision.

"Being listed on the terrorism list was a catastrophe. Now we want to be be rehabilitated by the EU and be recognized as an opposition group," Javad Dabiran, an organizer based in Germany, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Organizers said more than 5,000 supporters had arrived from across Europe to gather outside the EU Council building in Brussels. dpa reporters on the scene counted between 2,000 and 3,000 people.

On Monday, the bloc's foreign ministers agreed to remove the PMOI from its terror list following a ruling by the European Court in Luxembourg, which in December said the EU was wrong to keep the group's assets frozen after it was taken off a British list of terrorist organizations.

The move was harshly criticized by the Iranian government and sparked weekend street protests outside EU embassies in Tehran.

In a statement Monday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the EU had decided to make "friendship and cooperation with terrorists" allegedly involved in several terrorist operations and killings of innocent people.

The statement accused the EU of pursuing a double standard policy in its dealings with terrorism.

Founded in 1965, the PMOI operated a military wing in its early years, but says it renounced violence in June 2001 and now advocates the political overthrow of Iran's current government.

Iran regards PMOI as a terrorist group and accuses it of involvement in the assassinations of several high-ranking Iranian officials, including the president and prime minister in 1980. (dpa)