A thousand people demonstrated Sunday in Lyon in support of the protest movement in Iran.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the death of student Mahsa Amini on September 16 after her arrest for violating the dress code.
According to the UN, around 14,000 people have been arrested since the beginning of the movement and 14 people have been sentenced to death in connection with the demonstrations.
“Woman, life, freedom”.
A thousand people demonstrated this Sunday in Lyon in support of the protest movement in Iran and in tribute to Mohammad Moradi.
The latter committed suicide on December 26 by jumping into the Rhône to draw attention to his country.
The demonstrators marched behind a large banner proclaiming “Woman, life, freedom”, the slogan of the revolt movement in Iran which they shouted along the route.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the death of student Mahsa Amini on September 16 after her arrest for violating the dress code.
Since then, 14 people have been sentenced to death in connection with the protests, according to a tally based on official information.
Among them, four were executed, including two on Saturday.
The emotion was strong in Lyon among the demonstrators who waved Iranian flags or were swaddled in them.
“I am here to ask for freedom in Iran (…) When I was little, they arrested my whole family”, explained Sholeh Golrokhi, 49, from Paris and who drew a red tear on her face. .
“We are against this regime (…) which is against humanity, against all the Iranian people,” explained Jiyan Bahramian, a 46-year-old political refugee living in Besançon.
14,000 people arrested in Iran, according to the UN
He held with other compatriots a fabric banner displaying, in red, the word freedom composed with the names of 630 political prisoners, "a small part of a large number", he said: according to the UN , about 14,000 people have been arrested since the beginning of the movement.
Songs by rapper Toomaj Salehi, arrested for his support for the movement, were broadcast, while on a truck, a woman, the Iranian flag painted on her face, imitated a hanging.
If the crowd was mainly made up of Iranians, Lyonnais also came to support them, like Maurice Magnan and his wife.
“Iran is going through a dramatic time, the mullahs in power only aim to maintain them and in no case the happiness of their people.
Iran really deserves that we take care of their fate, ”said this 65-year-old retiree.
“We sensed the immense dissatisfaction of the Iranian people” during a trip to Iran, he explained, referring to the disastrous situation of the economy and the lack of hope of the youth.
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Lyons
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Iran
Demonstration
Womens rights
Execution