The Freedom Rally for Iran in Los Angeles consists of a group of celebrities, public figures, university students, human rights advocates and more.
The rally, happening at the Los Angeles City Hall in solidarity with the people of Iran started at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The protests in Iran, which are being led by thousands of brave women, began in response to the murder of Mahsa"Zhina" Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained by the"morality police" for failing to adhere to strict hijab laws in Iran.
According to organizers, the protests that ensued have"demanded an end to the deeply misogynistic political and legal system that Iran's dictatorship has imposed on its people for more than four decades." The protesters have now expanded their demands to include a change in regime, replacing the theocracy with pluralistic democracy. Meanwhile in Iran, Iranian anti-government protesters chanted from windows and rooftops in parts of Tehran early Thursday, but there were no reports of street protests in the country's capital, where authorities have waged a fierce crackdown in recent days. Iranian media have sporadically covered the demonstrations since they began. That they did not report any new protests in Tehran could mean that there weren't any or that authorities have tightened media restrictions. There was also no sign of burned trash cans or rubble in the streets of central Tehran early Thursday, as there had been following previous nightly street protests.