News / protest
Bristol rally calls for freedom and human rights for Iran
Symbolic caskets were laid out on College Green during a rally calling for freedom and human rights for Iran.
Around 300 people attended the event on Sunday afternoon which saw protesters burning photos of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and holding aloft images of exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi.
According to estimates from the Human Rights Activists News Agency, more than 3,300 protesters have been killed in Iran but that number could be many times more; with exact figures impossible to verify because internet has been cut off in the country since January 8.
Around 300 protesters gathered on Collage Green on Sunday afternoon
One speaker said the “only crime” of protesters killed in Iran “is demanding their most basic human rights”.
“Peaceful protests are met with bullets. Unarmed civilians are shot in the streets…
“Heavy machine guns have been deployed against people whose only weapons are their voices and their courage.”
Caskets on College Green symbolised the thousands of protesters who have been killed in Iran
Protesters in Bristol set fire to photos of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Some protesters called for the USA to intervene and protect their country, chanting: “Iran is in blackout. Act now, act now.”
The speaker added: “Iranians inside the country are risking everything. Iranians outside the country are raising their voices.”
‘No internet, no voices’ read a banner held by one protester
Many of the protesters at the rally were waving Iran’s former royal flag from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution
All photos: Rob Browne
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