Chanting crowds marched in the streets of Berlin, Washington DC and Los Angeles on Saturday in a show of international support for demonstrators facing a government crackdown in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month.
In Washington, thousands of women and men of all ages — wearing green, white and red, the colors of the Iran flag — chanted in unison – “Be scared. Be scared. We are one in this.”
The demonstrations drew Iranians from across the Washington DC area, with some traveling from Canada, TRT reported.
Siamak Aram, one of the organizers, told AFP that this was the fifth such rally in Washington, in solidarity with women-led protests in Iran that are now in their sixth week.
In Los Angeles, home to the biggest population of Iranians outside of Iran, a throng of protesters formed a slow-moving procession 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.
Massive crowds in Berlin
In Berlin, nearly 40,000 people gathered to show solidarity for the women and activists leading the movement for the past few weeks in Iran.
The protests in Germany’s capital began at the Victory Column in Berlin’s Tiergarten park and continued as a march through central Berlin.
Some demonstrators there said they had come from elsewhere in Germany and other European countries 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.”
Amini died last month in police custody after her arrest for allegedly breaching Iran’s strict dress code for women. Her death has fueled the biggest protests seen in the Islamic republic for years.
