For a second weekend, hundreds rallied and marched, this time in Seattle, calling for a regime change in Iran.
It was part of a nationwide protest following the death of 21-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s notorious morality police.
Last week, the protests kicked off in Bellevue. This week, they continued here in the Emerald City.
Protesters say they want to give voice to those who don’t have a voice in Iran. For many, what happened to the young Iranian woman is personal.
Many came to decry the death of Amini, a woman they will never know, but whose story could very well be their own.
Somaye Daggari of Mill Creek was asked if she was ever stopped by the morality police in Iran. “Yes, several times,” she said.
Daggari says it is a terror all Iranian women learn to live with.
“All of the girl(s) here have the same experience,” she said. “So, that’s why we (are) deeply affected by this thing because we know how these things go.”
It is also spurring men to action.
“I’ve been ignoring for a long time, not paying a lot of attention (to what) that regime is doing,” admitted Salman Karimpour. “They started with (the) religious minority. They removed them, killed them. They started then with different ideologies, they started removing them. And we can see that they keep removing (them) all.”
The death of Amini has pulled the veil off a multitude of grievances. Those here say they want a revolution to oust the government in power since 1979.
The regime prompted this man to rip up his Iranian passport.
“Don’t need it,” he said. “I’m done with this regime. Everybody’s done with them.”
Then, another man spoke in favor of the regime.
“Not everybody is against Iranian government,” said the man. “I love it. I would give my life for our leader.”
He was quickly silenced. “Are you out of your mind?,” he was asked.
“See, see what I’m talking about?” the man asked.
“Please cut (him) off,” said Homeira Bakhtiari of Bothell, as she placed a flag in front of him. “Please cut off. I’m so sorry.”
It is a measure of the passion so many here feel. Actress and activist Boshra Dastournezhad Haghighi said she was there to speak for others like her, and for those they know and love who were murdered.
“We are fighting for someone’s life, basic human life,” said Haghighi. “Because they were born in a country that kills them for being who they are.
They say this is not the end of their protests.
They say they plan to continue until the government in Iran is no more.
