North York demonstration draws 350,000 in support of anti-government protesters in Iran: Toronto police
A rally in North York Saturday that drew an estimated 350,000 people called on the Canadian government to recognize Iran’s exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi as the leader of Iran’s democratic transition after anti-government protests erupted in Iran at the end of last year.
Co-organizer Aveen Ghahremani said the focus of the demonstration Saturday is to make non-Iranians aware of the revolution and get them involved.
“We’re all here because of a lot of luck,” she said. “Some people in Iran are not as lucky.”
The message diaspora protesters hope to convey is that they stand behind those back in Iran, Ghahremani said.
“As Canadian Iranians, we see the difference in our lives in Iran as opposed to what it is here with the freedoms we have and the opportunities we have,” she told CBC Toronto. “I don’t think we should take that for granted.”
Organizers urge Canadian involvement in ‘ongoing national crisis’
People marched down Yonge Street to the beat of drums and chants of “King Reza Pahlavi.” Protesters held aloft and draped themselves in red, white and green flags emblazoned with a golden lion — the flag Iran used before the Islamic Republic came to power in 1979, toppling the previous monarchy.
Demonstrators called for an end to government repression in Iran as widespread protests inside the country have been met with violent crackdowns.
PHOTOS | Toronto police estimated 350,000 people at the solidarity march in North York:
In a letter obtained by CBC Toronto, demonstration organizers urged the Government of Canada to take a “timely” and “constructive” step in Iran’s “ongoing national crisis.”
“For over four decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has ruled through systemic repression, widespread human rights violations, political violence, and the denial of fundamental freedoms,” it said. “Its political, moral, and legal legitimacy has been irreversibly eroded, and that is a reality evident both inside Iran and across the international community.”
CBC Toronto reached out to Global Affairs Canada for comment.
In a news release Saturday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand announced Canada is imposing additional sanctions against seven people linked to Iranian state bodies.
“Canada is implementing these sanctions to address Iran’s use of transnational repression, violence and repressive tactics,” the release reads. “The imposition of these sanctions sends a clear message that Canada will not tolerate the Iranian regime’s attempts to intimidate, harm or silence voices inside or outside Iran.”
Iran’s use of proxy agents and criminal networks to silence critics through the use of harassment, surveillance and planned acts of violence in Europe and North America raised serious concerns, the statement adds.
“These actions threaten the sovereignty of other states and undermine the principles of international law and global peace and security.”
Police estimate nearly doubles
Toronto police originally estimated more than 200,000 people would gather at the solidarity rally, which is marching down Yonge Street Saturday.
In a statement to CBC Toronto Saturday evening, Toronto police said the Global Day of Action Rally in Toronto saw crowds estimated at 350,000.
Toronto police spokesperson Viktor Sarudi said the estimate of 200,000 people came in part from discussions with organizers.
“And it’s due to the trends from other turnouts at these types of solidarity rallies, the online momentum that this is gaining and the scale of similar events across other cities in North America and across the world,” he said.
Toronto police closed roads, including portions of Yonge Street and North York Boulevard, ahead of the protest. Sarudi said Toronto police partnered with the York Regional Police Service to ensure those at the rally are safe.
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In an update to social media Saturday afternoon, Toronto police said one person was arrested for assault at the demonstration at Yonge Street and Homewood Avenue around 3:15 p.m. Toronto police said further information would be released in a news release at a later time.
Calls to end Iran’s Islamic Republic
The rally is one of many happening worldwide Saturday as part of what Pahlavi labelled a global day of action. Pahlavi said Toronto, Munich and Los Angeles would be the main gathering points for Iranians living abroad to protest and call for regime change in Iran.
Sepideh Kaffash came all the way from Boston, Mass., for the demonstration. She says while there are weekly demonstrations at Copley Square, they were called to be somewhere different this time.
“What is important is that we show the world our unity,” she said. “This is our duty.”
“We don’t have any other option.”
Iran has been gripped by countrywide protests since late December, sparked by an ongoing economic crisis that has sent the country’s currency into freefall. While protesters were initially focused on Iran’s economy, demonstrators pivoted to calling for an end to Iran’s Islamic Republic, with some supporting the return of the ousted monarchy to power.
Iran’s government, which has cracked down on protests and implemented an internet blackout, said more than 3,000 people have been killed since protests broke out.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran, put the death toll at over 7,000.
The rally is one of many happening worldwide as part of what Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi labelled a global day of action. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)
Saturday’s rally comes two weeks after a major protest in Toronto’s Sankofa Square, which Toronto police estimated was attended by 150,000 people.
There, some protesters called for international intervention in Iran and an end to government repression.
“It’s hard to see that our friends and families in Iran are being kept in prison for no reason, being shot in the head for [using] their democratic voice,” said Nima Najafi, who attended the earlier protest and described Saturday’s rally as twice as large.
Iranian Canadian Jasmin Zandi, who is attending her fifth solidarity march Saturday, said her brother is a doctor back home.
“It’s one thing to see the pictures and videos, but to be there, to witness what’s happening, it’s quite a lot,” she said. “He’s a very strong man … But every time he calls us, he’s choked up, he’s crying.”
That’s why it’s important to stand up and unify, Zandi told CBC Toronto Saturday.
“It’s important to to hear our voice, their voice,” she said. “We stand together, we feel their pain.”
The TTC noted some bus route detours on its website ahead of the rally, but regular service has since resumed. In an post to social media Sunday evening, Toronto police said all roads had reopened.
