Oct 23,2022:There have been protests on the streets of Berlin, Washington and Los Angeles in solidarity with Iranian women who have faced a violent government crackdown.
Widespread protests erupted last month after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the country’s morality police.
On the US National Mall, thousands of women and men of all ages – wearing green, white and red, the colours of the Iran flag – chanted together.
“Be scared. Be scared. We are one in this,” demonstrators yelled, before marching to the White House. “Say her name! Mahsa!”
The demonstrations, put together by grassroots organisers from around the United States, drew Iranians from across the Washington, DC, area, with some travelling down from as far as Toronto, Canada, to join the crowd.
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 that turned the horizon into an undulating wave of red, white and green.
“We want freedom,” they shouted.
Iran’s nationwide antigovernment protest movement first focused on the country’s mandatory hijab covering for women following Amiri’s death on September 16. The demonstrations there have since transformed into the greatest challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement over disputed elections.
In Tehran on Saturday, more anti-government protests took place at several universities.
Iran’s security forces have dispersed gatherings in that country with live ammunition and tear gas, killing more than 200 people, including teenage girls, according to rights groups.
The official casualty figure is much lower.
