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TRANSCRIPT
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world took to the streets in opposition to Iran's clerical leadership over the weekend.
Following January's brutal crackdown on anti-government protests throughout Iran, the diaspora abroad have taken to the streets in solidarity.
Among the estimated 250,000-strong crowd in the German city of Munich, Daniyal Mohtashamian joined the calls.
“Well, we came here because the people in Iran are fighting for freedom, and there were like huge protests, and how the regime treated those protests with killing over 30,000, 40,000 people only because they were freely protesting in the streets.”
After the Iranian Regime was shaken by nationwide protests in January, a subsequent security crackdown saw the mass killing and detainment of tens of thousands of protesters.
According to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 7,010 people were killed in the crackdown, but other groups warn it could be as high as 30,000, with many deaths still under investigation.
During the deadly crackdown, the Iranian government shut off access to the internet and international calls in Iran.
Speaking to SBS at a rally in Melbourne, Iranian-Australian Pouya Asadi says it was devastating to be cut off from family.
“My father lives in Iran, and in those days that the internet was cut out, you have no idea how we went through. I know, like there are other peoples that have family in Iran, and that's really hard. that you cannot understand what's going on with your family. Are they alive or are they dead? So, that's really bad, yeah.”
Initially, the protests broke out over Iran's struggling economy and the high cost of goods inside the country.
Before long, the demonstrations spread to all of Iran's 31 provinces, with citizens calling for an end to the current Iranian regime.
With testimonies and evidence of the crackdown's brutality emerging, many Iranians abroad have been in mourning, not knowing if their friends or family were arrested or killed.
In Melbourne, Maryam Moazami says going about with normal life and routine has been especially difficult.
“I've been crying, you know, for so many days. I even didn't want to wash my face. It's not that we hate them, but it's just that what they are doing to us is just so brutal. I can compare it to the Holocaust that has happened in Europe during the World War II. So you can, you know, somehow compare and understand the level of brutality that we are facing in Iran right now.”
Protests also took place in other cities with a large Iranian diaspora, like Los Angeles and Toronto.
Joining the march in Toronto, Sava [[no last name given]] says many wish they could return to Iran.
“Our people just want their basic human rights. We're not asking for much, but every time there's an uprising, it's like getting worse and worse, and they're killing more people. So as a young person, I had to leave Iran myself to come here and build just a normal life, just to live. “
The recent demonstrations came after Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah ousted by the Islamic revolution in 1979, had called for a 'global day of action'.
With many Iranian anti-government protesters calling for the return of the Shah, Mr Pahlavi told the crowd in Munich that he could lead Iran through a secular and democratic transition.
Mr Pahlavi says he won't stop fighting for Iran.
“The Iranian people are in full revolt and the regime is at the weakest it's ever been. It's on the verge of collapse. It's a matter of time before this regime goes. My point, however, is that the world needs to understand, including the US administration. Now whether or not the Western world intervenes, our fight will continue and the regime will collapse anyway. The only question is at what price do the Iranian people regain their freedom? If they have a support, there will be less casualties and it will happen quicker. But we are committed to fight this fight forever. There's too much blood between us and this regime, and there's no recourse other than to continue fighting until we finally prevail.”
The demonstrations came as the United States continued to engage diplomatically with Iran's government, with confirmation that mediator Oman would host a fresh round of talks in Geneva next week [[date not known]].
While openly condemning the crackdown and threatening military action if killings continue, U-S President Donald Trump has declined to say who he would want to take over in Iran from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but says "there are people".
However, Mr Pahlavi, who has never distanced himself from his father's autocratic rule and has been criticised for his support for Israel, remains a divisive figure among the Iranian opposition.
n Munich, protester Shokufe Majdeh says these demonstrations should not be in support of a king, but of the people.
"We are here to support the Iranian people and the Iranian resistance, the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the PMOI, the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, to say that the Iranian people do not want any dictatorship, neither the Shah, nor the monarchy, nor the religious dictatorship that currently exists. We are here to demand a democratic and secular republic for the Iranian people.”
In Melbourne, Kimia Hamzeh says the global rallies are more than a protest, they're a show of solidarity for the people who can't protest in Iran.
After living in Australia for 17 years, she says she's never lost her connection to home.
“I've been away from Iran for the last seventeen years, and Australia is my home, but Iran is my home as well. So, I've always said it to everyone in my life. I'm like: "I don't know where I belong. I don't know if I belong here or if I belong in Iran," but I guess I belong both in Iran and here. Australia has given me a beautiful home, and Iran is always gonna be my home. To be honest, being away from home for seventeen years, a lot of people would think that you won't have any connection, you won't feel any of anything for your country. I do. I really do.”
