WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� 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 , sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of that country's morality police.
On the U.S. National Mall, thousands of women and men of all ages 鈥� wearing green, white and red, the colors of the Iran flag 鈥� shouted in rhythm. 鈥淏e scared. Be scared. We are one in this,鈥� demonstrators yelled, before marching to the White House. 鈥淪ay her name! Mahsa!鈥�
The demonstrations, put together by grassroots organizers from around the United States, drew Iranians from across the Washington D.C. area, with some travelling down from Toronto 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 a undulating wave of red, white and green.
鈥淲e want freedom,鈥� they thundered.
Shooka Scharm, an attorney who was born in the U.S. after her parents fled the Iranian revolution, was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan 鈥淲omen, Life, Freedom鈥� in English and Farsi. In Iran 鈥渨omen are like a second-class citizen and they are sick of it,鈥� Scharm said.
Iran's nationwide antigovernment protest movement first focused on the country鈥檚 mandatory hijab covering for women following Amiri鈥檚 death on Sept. 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 antigovernment protests took place at several universities.
Iran鈥檚 security forces have dispersed gatherings in that country with live ammunition and tear gas, killing over 200 people, including teenage girls, according to rights groups.
The Biden administration has said it condemns the brutality and repression against the citizens of Iran and that it will look for ways to impose more sanctions against the Iranian government if the violence continues.
Between chants, protesters in D.C. broke into song, singing traditional Persian music about life and freedom 鈥� all written after the revolution in 1979 brought religious fundamentalists to power in Iran. They sang one in particular in unison 鈥� 鈥淏araye,鈥� meaning because of, which has become the unofficial anthem of the Iran protests. The artist of that song, Shervin Hajipour, to his Instagram in late September. It accrued more than 40 million views.
鈥淏ecause of women, life, freedom,鈥� protesters sang, echoing a popular protest chant: 鈥淎zadi" 鈥� Freedom.
The movement in Iran is rooted in the same issues as in the U.S. and around the globe, said protester Samin Aayanifard, 28, who left Iran three years ago. 鈥淚t鈥檚 forced hijab in Iran and here in America, after 50 years, women鈥檚 bodies are under control,鈥� said Aayanifard, who drove from East Lansing, Michigan to join the D.C. march. She referred to rollbacks of abortion laws in the United States. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about control over women鈥檚 bodies.鈥�
Several weeks of Saturday solidarity rallies in the U.S. capital have drawn growing crowds.
In Berlin, a turned out to show solidarity for the women and activists leading the movement for the past few weeks in Iran. The protests in Germany's capital, organized by the Woman(asterisk) Life Freedom Collective, began at the Victory Column in Berlin鈥檚 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.
鈥淚t is so important for us to be here, to be the voice of the people of Iran, who are killed on the streets,鈥� said Shakib Lolo, who is from Iran but lives in the Netherlands. 鈥淎nd this is not a protest anymore, this is a revolution, in Iran. And the people of the world have to see it.鈥�
___
Blood reported from Los Angeles.
Follow AP's coverage of Iran at: https://apnews.com/hub/iran
Farnoush Amiri And Michael Blood, The Associated Press
