Protest held in Lancaster after violent actions in Iran

More than 60 Iranians and local people held an impromptu protest in Dalton Square in Lancaster against the recent violent actions of the Iranian government against its own civilian population and the shutting down of the internet.

The protest coincided with protests outside the Iranian Embassy in London and around the world.

Local Iranians spoke passionately of their anger at the Iranian government’s treatment of its people, and a spokeswoman from women’s group East Meets West expressed solidarity with the women of Iran.

People chanted ‘We are Mahsa’ and ‘Women, life, freedom!’ in response to the Iranian police’ murder of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman arrested by the morality police for not wearing her hijab ‘correctly.’

This was the final spark that ignited the protests which are continuing all over Iran, with people calling for an end to the dictatorship, for freedom, democracy and human rights.

Local Iranians had been following events in Iran through whatsapp videos and have shared disturbing scenes of the police beating women and men in the streets.

Videos show huge numbers of people protesting everywhere on the streets of Iran, with thousands arrested, and now at least 40 people killed, with concerns that more are being killed as media coverage is reduced due to the Iranian government shutting down of the internet.

Ali, an asylum seeker from Iran, said: ‘We are calling on the UK government to condemn the Iranian government’s latest actions, and to demand an end to human rights abuses and the introduction of free elections and democracy. We need the international community to help us achieve freedom and democracy in Iran.”

Lancaster hosts many refugees who have fled from Iran, including those who have converted to Christianity.

Many of Lancaster’s Iranian refugees have friends or relatives who have been killed by the Iranian authorities for not conforming to the Islamic Republic’s rigid laws. One man spent three months in prison for dancing in the streets at a New Year’s Eve party.

The internet remains effectively shut down in Iran, but protests continue, with local Iranians hoping that this is the beginning of the end for the Iranian dictatorship.