The Iranian protesters line Kensington Road, which is opposite the Iran Embassy in West London, five days a week every evening for three hours. The protests take place in form of a few hundred non-violent protesters, including a few eggs thrown on one occasion.
The protesters feel strongly about the alleged rigging of the voting of favoured candidate to win, Mir Hossein Mousavi, in the recent Iranian elections, where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected for a second term.
The protesters are also protesting about the unfair treatment of the protesters in Iran, particularly in Tehran, where many protesters have been imprisoned or killed. Photos of Neda, the innocent student who stepped out of a car in the middle of the protests in Tehran and was shot dead by the authorities, cover the railings of Kensington Park opposite the Iran embassy.
Massoud Ramkhelawan is a protester who now lives in England and says,
“Iranian people want democracy, they want to change everything. We are here because they are Fascist in Iran. I was in university in Iran and then they put me in jail for six years for attending anti-government marches, and then I came here.”
Massoud says that the majority of the protesters cannot return to Iran now, unless the government changes power from Ahmadinejad. If they go back now, he says, they will surely be killed.
Massoud is from the Shah group. There are three different political groups protesting, the People’s Mujahidin of Iran (PMOI), the Green Coalition, and the royalist’s supporters of the Shah. Although they do not share the same political goals, they all share the same desire to end the killing of the Iranian people, lying, torture and the perverse reactions to the protests in Iran.
An Iranian protester Susan*, “The main thing is that people are protesting and that is good, and they are giving up their life every time they protest but what we want is for the Iranian government to support the Iranian people, not the Iranian regime.”
Many of the protesters believe that technology and communication tools such as Twitter and blogging has helped their cause. Susan says,
The protesters feel strongly about the alleged rigging of the voting of favoured candidate to win, Mir Hossein Mousavi, in the recent Iranian elections, where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected for a second term.
The protesters are also protesting about the unfair treatment of the protesters in Iran, particularly in Tehran, where many protesters have been imprisoned or killed. Photos of Neda, the innocent student who stepped out of a car in the middle of the protests in Tehran and was shot dead by the authorities, cover the railings of Kensington Park opposite the Iran embassy.
Massoud Ramkhelawan is a protester who now lives in England and says,
“Iranian people want democracy, they want to change everything. We are here because they are Fascist in Iran. I was in university in Iran and then they put me in jail for six years for attending anti-government marches, and then I came here.”
Massoud says that the majority of the protesters cannot return to Iran now, unless the government changes power from Ahmadinejad. If they go back now, he says, they will surely be killed.
Massoud is from the Shah group. There are three different political groups protesting, the People’s Mujahidin of Iran (PMOI), the Green Coalition, and the royalist’s supporters of the Shah. Although they do not share the same political goals, they all share the same desire to end the killing of the Iranian people, lying, torture and the perverse reactions to the protests in Iran.
An Iranian protester Susan*, “The main thing is that people are protesting and that is good, and they are giving up their life every time they protest but what we want is for the Iranian government to support the Iranian people, not the Iranian regime.”
Many of the protesters believe that technology and communication tools such as Twitter and blogging has helped their cause. Susan says,
“The protests would still be happening without technology, but probably not this fast. It would be happening because we can only be dictatorship for so long. About 70% of the Iranian population are under 30 and they don’t want this regime, and they have said it time and time again but fortunately this time it is out.”
In Persian, ‘Neda’ means ‘voice’, and it certainly seems that the Iranians are finally using their voices, and standing up for their human rights while letting the world know what happened to Neda, and that they are not happy under their current political regime.
* Name has been changed to protect identity
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