New Delhi: Thousands of people gathered in Berlin, Los Angeles, and Washington DC on Saturday in solidarity with the demonstrators in Iran who are facing a violent government crackdown. The protests in Iran were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini on September 16 while under the custody of morality.
According to news agency AP, women and men of all ages — wearing red, green, and white, the colour of Iran's flag — gathered at the US National Mall. The demonstrators shouted in rhythm, “Be scared. Be scared. We are one in this,” before marching to the White House, “Say her name! Mahsa!”, they continued.
Grassroots organisers from around the United States helped put together the demonstrations and Iranians from different parts of the US joined, some even travelled from Toronto, AP reported.
A 28-year-old woman from Boston gave her name only as Mahshid and wore a T-shirt that read "Help free Iran."
"We do not want this tyrant regime anymore, who is banning us from our simple human rights and our freedom," said Mahshid, who left Iran three years ago to complete a master's degree in architecture in the United States. Like other people at the rally, she declined to give her last name, fearing for kin that remain in Iran, she told news agency AFP.
Protesters in D.C. broke into song, singing traditional Persian music about life and freedom — all written after the revolution in 1979 brought religious fundamentalists to power in Iran. One song they sang in particular — “Baraye,” meaning "because of", has become the unofficial anthem of the Iran protests. The artist of that song, Shervin Hajipour, was arrested shortly after posting the song to his Instagram in late September. It accrued more than 40 million views, reported AP.
In Los Angeles, which has the largest population of Iranians outside Iran, demonstrators slow moved along blocks of a closed downtown street. They chanted for the fall of Iran’s government and waved hundreds of Iranian flags, “We want freedom,” they thundered.
Shooka Scharm, an attorney who was born in the U.S. after her parents fled the Iranian revolution, was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” in English and Farsi. In Iran “women are like a second-class citizens and they are sick of it,” Scharm told AP.
Protesters sang “Because of women, life, freedom".
Protests In Berlin
Meanwhile, in Berlin, tens of thousands turned out in support of women in Iran. The protests in Germany’s capital, organised by the Woman(asterisk) Life Freedom Collective, began at the Victory Column in Berlin’s Tiergarten park and continued as a march through central Berlin. Some of the demonstrators had come from other parts of Europe to show their support.
“It is so important for us to be here, to be the voice of the people of Iran, who are killed on the streets,” said Shakib Lolo, who is from Iran but lives in the Netherlands. “And this is not a protest anymore, this is a revolution, in Iran. And the people of the world have to see it.”
In several universities in Tehran, anti-government protests erupted amid heavy security on Saturday. The protests across Iran first focused on the country’s mandatory hijab, they have transformed into the greatest challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement over disputed elections. Security forces have dispersed gatherings with live ammunition and tear gas, leaving over 200 people dead of the course, according to rights groups.
(With Inputs From Agencies)