Hundreds protest Iran’s regime in Halifax

More than 200 people marched through Halifax’s downtown streets on Saturday to protest the killings taking place in Iran. 

This was the second rally for Iran in the past few weeks. Ziba Mashkori, one of the organizers of the protest, said the goal is to raise awareness and tell the world what is happening in Iran. She said it is “gobsmacking” talking to non-Iranians who are unfamiliar with the Islamic Republic.

Her team started organizing rallies in Halifax after the 2022 death of Mahsa Jina Amini, who was killed by Iran’s morality police for not wearing her hijab properly. This sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom movement all around the world.

Mashkori said this put pressure on the Canadian government to recognize the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group. In 2024, the Canadian government listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity. 

In Iran, the latest round of protests began on Dec. 28, in response to the collapse of the country’s currency. This quickly turned into anti-government protests against the Islamic regime that has ruled Iran since the revolution in 1979. 

In response to protests all over the country, Iranian authorities shut off the internet on Jan. 8 and have reportedly killed at least 2,000 protesters, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, though sources from inside Iran estimate the death toll exceeds 12,000.

Mashkori has family members living in Iran that she can’t reach due to the internet blackout. “I’m devastated,” she said. “I am worried for everyone, not just my family.”

Mashkori said for the few seconds recently that she was able to reach a family member via phone, the calls were monitored so they were not able to talk freely.

“People are prisoners in their own homes,” she said.

There have been many protests in Iran since the Islamic Revolution, but Mashkori believes this one is different. Previous protests were to incite a reform to the Islamic regime, while this one is calling for the complete end to the regime, she said, adding that civilians want the Islamic regime to fall, and have been advocating for Prince Reza Pahlavi to come to power. 

Pahlavi is the son of the former shah, or king, of Iran, who was ousted during the Islamic Revolution. Iranians at the rally want Pahlavi to take leadership. Protesters chanted, “Who is the nation calling? Reza Pahlavi,” on Saturday.

Sarvin Borhani, a protester at the rally, said the people want Pahlavi to come back “not as a king but as the leader of this transitional period.”

She said they want the complete overthrow of the Islamic regime in Iran. “This is not a protest anymore, this is a revolution.”

Borhani urges people to pay attention, saying, “Iranians in the streets are fighting the Islamic regime with their bare hands.”

Protester Sophie Mollee described what is happening in Iran as a genocide. “We need the Western countries to be our voice,” said Mollee. “How can the world be silent?” 

She urges Nova Scotians to support Iranians by raising awareness through social media and other outlets. “Silence is complicity,” she said.