Protesters marched along Sainte-Catherine Street calling for emergency support and freedom in their homeland on Saturday. “They have to know that we are behind them, we are here and we send their voice to the world. For the freedom, for the liberty,” a woman who wished not to be named, told CTV News. Montreal is just one city marching in solidarity with the people of Iran, on what’s called a Global Day of Action. Protests in Iran began in late December over the country’s dire economic conditions, but they quickly escalated and many are challenging Iranian leadership. A crackdown over the protests has led to at least 7,000 people killed, according to activists, but some fear the number is much higher. “They went really brutal and out of control on our people,” Daariush Lagarki, an Iranian Canadian, said. “I, myself have found out so far that I’ve lost 16 second and third cousins as young as 16 years old, that have been shot on the street.” Like many others, he watches in horror. “For the past 8 weeks, I can speak for a lot of my people, we have not been able to take more than an hour, two hours sleep,” Lagarki said. Many protesters held signs in support of Iran’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, as they call for a regime change. “Message to the people of Iran do not give up because we are going to win the battle,” one protester said. Although Canada has condemned the killing of Iranian people, some want a stronger response and more international intervention. “If they had not used killing force against our people, they would have been toppled,” Lagarki said. “What we want is for the international community to take note, we need help.” As they walked from Cabot Square to Place du Canada, one woman shared a message for the rest of the world with the crowd. “We are peaceful people, but unfortunately under this regime nobody can hear our voice and we are the people of Iran.”
