Thousands of people marched across major US cities on Sunday in support of anti-government protesters in Iran, as anger grows over a deadly crackdown by Iranian security forces.
Several thousand of demonstrators gathered in Los Angeles, a home to the world’s largest Iranian diaspora, while several hundred others rallied in New York, AFP journalists reported. Protesters carried placards accusing the Iranian government of mass killings, with messages referring to a “genocide in the making,” a “new Holocaust,” and state-sponsored terror.
Emotions ran high at the Los Angeles rally, where Perry Faraz, a 62-year-old payroll manager who fled Iran in 2006, described her grief and outrage.
“My heart is heavy and my soul is crushed. I’m at a loss for words to describe how angry I am,” she said.
Faraz said she recently learned that one of her young cousins had been killed during the protests in Iran.
“He wasn’t even 10 years old. That’s horrible,” she added.
The protests in Iran erupted in late December, initially driven by public anger over economic hardship, before escalating into nationwide demonstrations widely regarded as the most serious challenge to Iran’s leadership in years.
The rallies later subsided following a violent government crackdown that rights groups have described as a “massacre.” The crackdown coincided with a near-total communications blackout imposed on January 8, limiting the flow of information from within the country.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights said it has verified the deaths of at least 3,428 protesters, citing confirmations from medical sources inside Iran, witnesses and independent investigations. The group warned that the actual death toll was likely far higher.
The figures could not be independently verified by the media, and Iranian authorities have yet to release an official death toll.
