Demonstrators in London, Paris, Istanbul back Iran protests
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LONDON – Demonstrators rallied in London, Paris and Istanbul on Jan 11 in support of protests in Iran that have been countered with a deadly crackdown by the country’s security forces.
London demonstrations, initially in front of the Iranian embassy and later in front of the British Prime Minister’s residence, grew to several thousand as the day progressed.
“We want revolution, change the regime,” Afsi, a 38-year-old Iranian, who declined to give her last name, told AFP at the rally in front of Downing Street.
Afsi has lived in London for seven years, and has not been able to contact her family in Iran because of an internet blackout imposed by the authorities since Jan 8.
“It’s so frustrating, but it’s not the first time,” she said.
“This time, we have hope... we feel like we can do it (overthrow the government) this time.”
In Paris, more than 2,000 people waving Iran’s flag from before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 demonstrated, to chants of “No to the terrorist Islamic Republic”.
Police did not allow them to approach the Iranian embassy.
“Close the mullahs’ embassy, the terrorist factory,” some demonstrators yelled.
A mullah is a Muslim cleric or religious leader, typically educated in Islamic law and theology.
A 20-year-old Iranian student living in Paris, who gave his first name as Arya, said: “In Iran, the people are rising up in the streets, and we Iranians outside Iran are here to show we are with them and they are not alone.”
He said he was waiting to hear what the son of Iran’s last shah, US-based Reza Pahlavi, “will tell us to do”.
Protestors carrying placards and waving flags of Iran from before the 1979 revolution in Paris on Jan 11.
PHOTO: AFP
Mr Pahlavi, the exiled former crown prince of Iran, lives in the US and is a prominent opposition figure among the Iranian diaspora. He is calling for a transition to a secular democracy in Iran.
The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have lasted two weeks and become a movement against the theocratic system in place since the 1979 revolution.
The Iranian authorities have called the protesters “rioters” who are backed by the US and Israel.
In Istanbul, demonstrators voicing support for the Iranian protesters gathered in steady rain.
Police cordoned off the area outside the Iranian consulate and the crowd was kept away from the mission.
“It’s been 72 hours since we had any news from the country, from our families. No internet or television, we can’t reach Iran anymore,” said Nina, a young Iranian living in Turkey who had the Iranian flag and red tears painted on her face.
“The regime kills at random – whether families are on foot or in a car, whether there are children. It spares no one,” she added.
Anti-Iranian regime protesters outside the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul on Jan 11.
PHOTO: AFP
The crackdown by Iran’s authorities has resulted in at least 192 deaths, according to Norway-based non-governmental organisation Iran Human Rights.
The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said it had received “credible” accounts of “hundreds of protesters” killed across Iran since the internet clampdown started.
The leaders of Britain, France and Germany on Jan 9 condemned the “killing of protesters” in Iran, while US President Donald Trump said on Jan 10 that his country stood “ready to help” as Iranians protest.
One of the demonstrators in London, Ms Fahimeh Moradi, 52, said she was taking part “to support the Iranian people who are killed and murdered by the Iran regime – we don’t want the Islamic Republic of Iran, we hate them!”
She added: “My son is there, and I don’t know if he’s alive or not. We just want this murderous regime to leave Iran, that’s it!” AFP
