Graduate students demonstrate against Iranian government, honor protestors killed

Demonstrators gathered on the College Ave campus on Thursday to raise awareness about the ongoing political violence and mass killings in Iran.

Organized by a group of Iranian graduate students, the group rallied to support activists in Iran and renounce the treatment of protestors by the Khamenei regime.

The protest was in response to the Iranian government’s deadly attacks on protesters. AP News reports over 6,000 confirmed protester deaths. Other outlets estimate the death toll could be much higher, around 30,000. 

The Iranian government has also shut down internet access and landline phones, making it difficult to communicate with people in Iran. Multiple demonstrators expressed concerns for family members in Iran that have become unreachable.

The event leader said he hopes the event will bring light to the issue among students and academics.

“I think that the first thing we need is to be heard,” the event leader said. “This is the voice of Iranian people [and] Iranian students.”

Demonstrators held signs calling for revolution and showing images of people killed by the regime, including 23-year-old college student Raha Bohloulipour and 2-year-old Melina Asadi.

Demonstrators also held moments of silence and sang Farsi mourning songs to honor the protesters killed.

“It means ‘from the blood of the youth, a lot of roses have blossomed,'” one demonstrator told WRSU.

Many demonstrators showed their support for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi with chants in Farsi and called for the reinstatement of the Shah monarchy. Pahlavi is currently in the United States after his family’s exile from Iran as political enemies.

Event speakers included Ava Maj-lesi of the Rutgers Democracy Lab and Professor Maryam Borjian of the Linguistics Department. Both spoke independently of Rutgers and opinions were their own.

Maj-lesi drew comparisons between the actions of the Iranian government and the current ICE deployments across the United States.

“As Americans, we could take a lesson from the people of Iran,” Maj-lesi said. “Use your voice. Call out anti-democratic actions taken by your government when you witness them.”

Borjian said the strife in Iran is just beginning and called for international intervention.

“Today, as all these people are killed in Iran, even as the blood has not dried, the regime… repeats dangerous lies that Iran must be left alone,” Borjian said.

Around thirty demonstrators attended the event and distributed flyers asking students to “be the voice” of those killed.

Story by Avani Trivedi and Andrew Hawthorne.