The busts of two old men stand on plinths in front of the flat-roofed building of the Iranian consulate general in the Dornbusch district.

It is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and his Persian colleague Hafis, who was already writing poetry in the 14th century, whom Frankfurt's greatest son adored.

The encounter with Hafis' verses not only made Goethe happy, but also made him evoke the togetherness of Occident and Orient in the "West-Eastern Divan".

The anything but happy reality in Hafis' homeland is documented at the foot of the two slightly demolished busts.

Iranian activists have grouped there the photos of children and young people who have fallen victim to the violence of the mullahs' regime in the recent unrest.

Among them is nine-year-old Kian Pirfalak, who was shot dead by security forces in Iran on November 15 in his parents' car.

The death of the nine-year-old - the news went around the world - becomes a beacon for Ehsan Abbasy.

The 38-year-old Iranian left his place of residence near Fulda, pitched his small orange igloo tent on Raimundstraße opposite the consulate and began a hunger strike in solidarity with his persecuted compatriots.

Hunger strike in solidarity

He was followed by seven other Iranians, all of whom only drank hot water.

Activists from the Iranian community in the Rhine-Main region provided them with radiant heaters, blankets, camping chairs and shelters.

Nine tents stand along the walkway.

The men are recovering from the bitter cold outside in a trailer parked in a parking lot.

A woman is taken to the hospital after a week.

The city of Frankfurt regularly sent the Red Cross over, as acting mayor Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg says.

On Friday, however, the hunger strikers surprisingly ended their action - and thus met the pre-Christmas wish of Frankfurt's city leaders.

"The chair of the city parliament has promised us to work for our goals and to fight for them," says Abbasy.

On Thursday evening, on the fringes of the city council meeting, he and his fellow campaigners presented their demands to Hilime Arslaner and Eskandari-Grünberg, the heads of parliament.

These include the closure of the three Iranian consulates general in Germany and the embassy in Berlin, and the recognition of the uprising in Iran as a legitimate revolution.

In addition, the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran are to be classified as a terrorist organization on the EU list, as is also being demanded by parts of the traffic light coalition in Berlin.

Greens motion rejected

Eskandari-Grünberg, who will manage Peter Feldmann's business until a mayor is elected in March, has become an advocate and supporter of the hunger strikers in recent days.

The 57-year-old Green Party politician was once politically persecuted in Iran.

At the age of 18, she spent 18 months in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.

She then fled Iran to Germany in 1985.

She promises the activists that they will forward their demands to the federal government.

These are goals that Frankfurt's current mayor has no problems with anyway.

"It is important that all political relations with Iran are severed," says Eskandari-Grünberg.

Isolation is the only way to prevent the "terrorist regime" from continuing its criminal activities.

As a “city of democracy and the Paulskirche”, she sees Frankfurt as having a special responsibility.

In the local advisory board 9 responsible for the Dornbusch, the Greens have proposed renaming Raimundstrasse “soon” to commemorate Mahsa Amini.

The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who died in police custody in September, has become a symbol of Iran's recent uprising.

The vice squad accused her of not wearing her headscarf in accordance with regulations.

However, the application was rejected with the votes of the CDU, SPD and FDP – it was too much politics for the district committee.

"We felt we were being pinched," says mayor Friedrich Hesse (CDU).

They are not responsible for foreign policy, even if he himself has sympathy for the protest.

Posthumous renaming would have a signal effect

But for Mahsa Amini, renaming the street where the consulate built in 2003 stands could be a later posthumous triumph for her right to self-determination.

"It would be a signal for human and women's rights," says Eskandari-Grünberg, who supports the renaming.

On Friday – the end of the hunger strike – Raimundstrasse is blocked off by the police.

A good 100 Iranians have gathered in front of the consulate for a demonstration.

Flags are waved.

The Islamic government and the spiritual head of the mullahs' regime, revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are cursed in chants.

Ehsan Abbasy, the initiator of the hunger strike, got into trouble with the authorities in Tehran because, as a sound engineer, he accidentally played a song critical of the government by a singer who has since died during a sound check at a concert.

After the end of his action, he wants to wait and see how things will continue in dealing with the mullah regime in Germany.

There is a lot of talk about human rights here, but nothing happens, he criticizes.

On Saturday he wants to pitch his tent on Raimundstrasse in Frankfurt and drive back to Fulda.