The protests grow. · Liberty Politics Discussion

2h • News

The protests grow.

From my home town. A small community perhaps, but they have widespread support amongst all Victorians:

Iranian-Canadians to rally at legislature as protests and crackdown intensify back home

If you’re near the legislature this afternoon, that sound you’ll no doubt hear is one calling for action on this side of the planet as horrors unfold back home.

It’s the third straight weekend of peaceful rallies calling for urgent international attention on the escalating crisis in Iran.

“Executions have begun. Families are being destroyed. Widows are appearing overnight,” said Nahid Safari, one of the event’s organizers, in a release.

While Canadians were celebrating Christmas, Iranians hit the streets to protest an economic collapse that has seen their dollar, the rial, sink to a record low while inflation hit an all-time high.

US-led sanctions against the country over its nuclear program and government corruption added to the anger. Protests started with students and shopkeepers and have since reportedly spread to 187 centres in all 31 of Iran’s provinces, according to the BBC.

Then came the crackdown.

“The scale and speed of the violence are staggering,” Safari says.

It’s difficult to get a handle on the number of people who have been arrested—or killed—because the Iranian government has shut down Internet access.

According to Amnesty International, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued a release earlier this week that said 3,117 people were killed during the uprising, although a United Nations report suggested that number was closer to 5K.

“Independent reports and other information received by Amnesty International indicate that tens of thousands of people, including children, have been arbitrarily detained,” Amnesty International said yesterday on its website.

Safari calls the lack of media coverage of this tragedy “deeply painful” and says, “This is not a minor or distant story.

“Thousands of people have been killed in a matter of days.”

According to the latest figures available (2021 Canadian census), 68K people living in BC identified as having Iranian heritage. The vast majority have taken up roots in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.

“There is no official census count of Iranians in Greater Victoria, but based on long-standing community networks, universities, professional circles, and family ties, the Iranian population in the region is among the small Iranian communities in Canada,” Safari tells Capital Daily.

“For these families, the past weeks have been marked by fear, uncertainty, and prolonged silence.”

Safari says protesters inside Iran and across the diaspora are increasingly calling for: