Protesters in Montreal show support for Iran, stand up for human rights

Montrealers continued to show their support for the people of Iran Saturday with another protest.

Montrealers have consistently shown their support for demonstrators in Iran, with several downtown protests in the fall and throughout the winter.

Saturday’s protest came 20 weeks after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died while being held by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

Amini’s death sparked the protests.

The demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling clerics, a major challenge to their four-decade rule.

“People are still mobilizing in Iran in spite of the execution, torture, repression, arbitrary detentions, and it’s important for us here in Quebec to make sure our population, our society knows and pressures the Canadian government to take steps, and to support Iranians who are reclaiming and demanding that their humans rights be respected,” said one of the organizers of Saturday’s protest.

Amnesty International Canada Francophone joined Saturday’s protest in Montreal to show solidarity to the movement.

“Amnesty International Canada Francophone is supporting members of the Iranian community, particularly the ‘Femme, Vie, Liberté Montreal.’”

Those in Montreal say they will continue to have the voices of those in Iran heard.

At least 527 protesters have been killed and more than 19,500 people have been detained since the demonstrations began, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has closely monitored the unrest. Iranian authorities have not released official figures on deaths or arrests.

Rights groups say authorities have used live ammunition, bird shot and tear gas to disperse protesters.

Iran has executed four men on charges linked to the protests, and rights groups say at least 16 others have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings.

–With files from The Associated Press