DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Thousands of people gathered for a “Global Day of Action” protest in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday in support of the Iranian people’s fight for freedom and human rights.
Protesters called for the Iranian government to stop the arrest and killing of protesters, something that’s been happening since late December. For many in Southern California, what’s happening in Iran feels incredibly close to home.
Los Angeles is home to one of the largest Iranian communities outside of Iran, and many demonstrators said they’re protesting not just for political change, but for friends and family members and friends who are living through a crackdown they describe as brutal.
“The oppression is so bad. There’s so many people in jail. There’s so many people in the morgues,” said protester Cherry Lane.
Activists are calling for an end to the killings and imprisonment of protesters since demonstrations erupted in December, and an end to the country’s theocratic rule. They are also calling for U.S. intervention.
President Donald Trump has hinted at a possible intervention in Iran, and he’s willing to meet with the country’s world leader, Ali Khamenei, if the Ayatollah agrees to it.
“Make Iran great again, meaning an Iran that’s based on freedom and not one that’s based on using Islam and religion to murder people,” said protester Brian Cox.
Massive posters were placed on the ground in Grand Park, including one that reads “Reza Pahlavi is our choice.” Pahlavi is the son of the deposed Shah from decades ago, who many Iranians want to see take over from the current Iranian regime, which has murdered tens of thousands of protesters since December.
“This has nothing to do with politics. It has nothing to do with finance. It’s about human rights,” said Hessam Rahimain.
Another large poster featured Trump and read ‘We are locked and loaded. Help is on its way.”
Protesters began filling the streets of downtown L.A. near City Hall at 1 p.m. on Saturday. By 4 p.m., the crowd was still large, and the demonstration was peaceful.
“Today is a national day of action, as you’ve seen, all around the world… there’s been heaps of people coming out to protest against a regime that is, for all terms and purposes, for the people of Iran, illegitimate,” said protester Sara Seyed. “But the main thing, the most important thing we’re here to ask is, if I were to ask President Trump, Senator Rubio, Mr. Witkoff, Mr. Kushner, is ‘What do you stand to gain from negotiating with a regime that is, by all means, illegitimate? What is there to gain for the betterment of the Iranian people since they don’t have a representative at the table? What is there to gain for the United States peace and security and the world?’ This regime has, by all means, operated in its entirety as a terrorist state. It shoots and kills unarmed civilians who are protesting their basic rights.”
The massive protest in downtown L.A. also included support and praise of President Donald Trump as the U.S. continues to weigh how to respond to the crisis in Iran.
But with the death toll already in the thousands, some say they’re losing faith.
“We’re frustrated because we had President Trump’s promise. He said to my people that he will be there for my defenseless people,” Seyed continued. “We have reached the point where we need immediate and strategic help. No patriotic human being wants an all-out war. But there are so many strategies to completely annihilate the arteries and the lifelines of this regime that has invested in proxies and militias and destruction all around the world.”
Still, some protesters say they hope Saturday’s demonstrations were a loud enough outcry, hoping international pressure will build.
“And then all the people that I’ve been talking to that live there in Iran, they are so committed to freedom that they tell me, ‘Please, tell President Trump to attack. I don’t even care if I die,'” Cox said.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency says 7,000 people have been killed by the Iranian regime since December, but others have the count as high as 35,000. The true number is hard to verify because of internet blackouts and restrictions on journalists inside Iran.