Hundreds gather along Lions Gate Bridge in protest of Iranian regime
Posted October 29, 2022 3:24 pm.
Last Updated October 29, 2022 3:33 pm.
Hundreds of protesters calling for an end to the Iranian regime formed a human-chain along the sides of the Lions Gate Bridge into the Stanley Park Causeway on Saturday.
It was one of many such demonstrations taking place around the world, organized by The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims.
Demonstrators are lining the Lions Gate Bridge and the Stanley Park Causeway. #northvancouver #westvancouver @CityNewsVAN @CityNewsTraffic https://t.co/SGO3RtLM55 pic.twitter.com/oNdXlfqexp
— John Ackermann ???? (@jackermann) October 29, 2022
Vahid Emami took part in the chain, mourning the loss of his four family members who were killed when Iranian forces shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020, killing 176 people including 55 Canadians, and 30 permanent residents.
“We are here today to say that we are the voice of Iranian people, because we believe that government is not representative of Iran right now, and we want to be the voice of the revolution that’s happening in Iran right now,” he told CityNews.
The Iranian regime has been the target of protests in the country after the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.
The protests in Iran sparked by Amini’s death first focused on the state-mandated hijab, or head scarf for women, but quickly grew into calls for the downfall of the country’s theocracy. At least 270 people have been killed, and 14,000 have been arrested in the protests that have swept over 125 Iranian cities, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.
“Iranian people, who are the owner of that huge country, don’t want this regime, and we want the western government to stop its support,” Emami said.
Another demonstrator, Soushiant Zanganehpour, says the support for Iranians both in the country and around the world is “unprecedented.”
“This is a force that has been awakened that has been dormant for 42 years,” he said of the protests in the streets in Iran. “I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life.”
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard issued a new warning on Saturday to antigovernment protesters, even as demonstrations continued in cities, and university campuses across the country for the sixth straight week.
Despite the threat, student associations reported protests at dozens of universities across the country on Saturday, from the capital of Tehran to the central cities of Isfahan and Yazd. Videos spread online show students chanting for freedom and the end of Iran’s clerical rule.
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The Iranian government has repeatedly alleged that foreign powers have orchestrated the protests, without providing evidence. The protests have become one of the most serious threats to Iran’s ruling clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
With files from Angela Bower and The Associated Press.
