Protestors campaigning against the Iranian regime have entered their fifth week of action in St Peter’s Square.
Global outrage was sparked last month when it was reported 22-year-old Mahsa Amini had died after being arrested by Iranian police for wearing her hijab in a way that was deemed unsuitable by government standards.
Since then various forms of protest have taken place around the world and on the internet, where videos emerged of Iranian schoolgirls removing their hijabs in defiance of their government’s oppressive regime.
Manchester protestor Niloo Golmakani, 54, said people are gathered in solidarity with the brave individuals back in Iran who protest the regime, those who are often students or teenagers.
She said: “We are here, we are fighting, we keep going, to tell the world what is going on in Iran.”
People were waving the Sheer-o Khorsheed flag, which was banned by the Iranian government more than 40 years ago but is still used by many to demonstrate opposition to the regime.
St Peter’s Square has become a favoured location in the city for protesters to express their outrage, with campaigners forming a ‘human chain’ in the same spot last weekend.
Niloo said the people gathered on the square are campaigning for the UK government to close the Iranian embassy in London, as well as the Islamic centre in Manchester.
The latter is funded by The Islamic Centres of England, an organisation which has been the subject of recent protests given its connections to the regime in Tehran.
Niloo says that in the Manchester centre as well as others which are funded in this way, “they make terrorists, they do everything wrong”.
She is pictured wearing an image of Farah Pahlavi, Iran’s exiled former empress who has expressed her support of campaigners.
