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WASHINGTON (AP) — Chanting crowds marched successful the streets of Berlin, Washington DC and Los Angeles connected Saturday successful a amusement of planetary enactment for demonstrators facing a violent authorities crackdown successful Iran, sparked by the decease of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini successful the custody of that country’s morality police.
On the U.S. National Mall, thousands of women and men of each ages — wearing green, achromatic and red, the colors of the Iran emblem — shouted successful rhythm. “Be scared. Be scared. We are 1 successful this,” demonstrators yelled, earlier marching to the White House. “Say her name! Mahsa!”
The demonstrations, enactment unneurotic by grassroots organizers from astir the United States, drew Iranians from crossed the Washington D.C. area, with immoderate travelling down from Toronto to articulation the crowd.
In Los Angeles, location to the biggest colonisation of Iranians extracurricular of Iran, a throng of protesters formed a slow-moving procession on blocks of a closed downtown street. They chanted for the autumn of Iran’s authorities and waved hundreds of Iranian flags that turned the skyline into a undulating question of red, achromatic and green.
“We privation freedom,” they thundered.
Shooka Scharm, an lawyer who was calved successful the U.S. aft her parents fled the Iranian revolution, was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” successful English and Farsi. In Iran “women are similar a second-class national and they are sick of it,” Scharm said.
Iran’s nationwide antigovernment protestation question archetypal focused connected the country’s mandatory hijab covering for women pursuing Amiri’s decease connected Sept. 16. The demonstrations determination person since transformed into the top situation to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement implicit disputed elections. In Tehran connected Saturday, much antigovernment protests took spot astatine respective universities.
Iran’s information forces person dispersed gatherings successful that state with unrecorded ammunition and teardrop gas, sidesplitting implicit 200 people, including teenage girls, according to rights groups.
The Biden medication has said it condemns the brutality and repression against the citizens of Iran and that it volition look for ways to enforce much sanctions against the Iranian authorities if the unit continues.
Between chants, protesters successful D.C. broke into song, singing accepted Persian euphony astir beingness and state — each written aft the gyration successful 1979 brought spiritual fundamentalists to powerfulness successful Iran. They sang 1 successful peculiar successful unison — “Baraye,” meaning due to the fact that of, which has go the unofficial anthem of the Iran protests. The creator of that song, Shervin Hajipour, was arrested soon aft posting the song to his Instagram successful precocious September. It accrued much than 40 cardinal views.
“Because of women, life, freedom,” protesters sang, echoing a fashionable protestation chant: “Azadi” — Freedom.
The question successful Iran is rooted successful the aforesaid issues arsenic successful the U.S. and astir the globe, said protester Samin Aayanifard, 28, who near Iran 3 years ago. “It’s forced hijab successful Iran and present successful America, aft 50 years, women’s bodies are nether control,” said Aayanifard, who drove from East Lansing, Michigan to articulation the D.C. march. She referred to rollbacks of termination laws successful the United States. “It’s astir power implicit women’s bodies.”
Several weeks of Saturday solidarity rallies successful the U.S. superior person drawn increasing crowds.
In Berlin, a crowd estimated by German constabulary astatine respective tens of thousands turned retired to amusement solidarity for the women and activists starring the question for the past fewer weeks successful Iran. The protests successful Germany’s capital, organized by the Woman(asterisk) Life Freedom Collective, began astatine the Victory Column successful Berlin’s Tiergarten parkland and continued arsenic a march done cardinal Berlin.
Some demonstrators determination said they had travel from elsewhere successful Germany and different European countries to amusement their support.
“It is truthful important for america to beryllium here, to beryllium the dependable of the radical of Iran, who are killed connected the streets,” said Shakib Lolo, who is from Iran but lives successful the Netherlands. “And this is not a protestation anymore, this is simply a revolution, successful Iran. And the radical of the satellite person to spot it.”
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Blood reported from Los Angeles.
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