The streets of Berlin, Washington and Los Angeles witnessed protests in solidarity with Iranian women facing violent government repression. Widespread protests erupted last month after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the country's vice squad. On the US National Mall, thousands of women and men of all ages, dressed in green, white and red, the colors of the Iranian flag, shouted to the beat. "Be afraid. Be afraid.
We are one in this," protesters chanted before marching to the White House. Organized by grassroots organizers from the United States, the demonstrations attracted Iranians from the Washington DC area, with some traveling from Toronto to join the crowd. In Los Angeles, home to the largest Iranian population outside of Iran, crowds of protesters formed a slow procession along a closed downtown street. They chanted the fall of the Iranian government in
and waved hundreds of Iranian flags, turning the horizon into a surging wave of red, white and green. "We want freedom",
Shooka Scharm, a US-born lawyer after her parents fled the Iranian revolution, wore a t-shirt with the slogan "Women, Life, Liberty" in English and Farsi. In Iran, "women are like second-class citizens and they're fed up with it," Sharm said. Iran's nationwide anti-government protest movement initially focused on making headscarves compulsory for women in the country after Amiri's death on September 16. Islamic Republic of Green Movement since 2009 More anti-government protests took place at several universities in Tehran on Saturday.
Iranian security forces have used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse gatherings in the country, killing more than 200 people, including teenagers, according to human rights groups. However, the official death toll is much lower. That's what the Biden administration said. it condemns the brutality and repression against the citizens of Iran and will seek ways to impose further sanctions against the Iranian government if violence continues. Between the chants, protesters in Washington broke into a
chant, singing traditional Persian music about life and freedom. One thing in particular they sang in unison: "Baraye," meaning "because of," which has become the unofficial anthem of the protests in Iran.
The artist of this song, Shervin Hajipour, was arrested shortly after posting the song on his Instagram in late September. It has garnered over 40 million views. "For women, life, freedom," the demonstrators chanted, repeating a popular protest chant: "Azadi" - freedom. Week-long Saturday solidarity rallies in the US capital have drawn growing crowds. the movement of the last few weeks in Iran.
The protests in the German capital, organized by the Woman(Sternchen) Life Freedom Collective, began at the Victory Column in Berlin's Tiergarten and continued with a march through central Berlin.