March to back Iranian protesters

THOUSANDS in the US staged large demonstrations Sunday denouncing the Iranian government's deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters in the Islamic Republic.

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PEOPLE march in an anti-Iranian regime rally in Los Angeles, California.

(AFP)

Several thousand people marched in Los Angeles, home to the world’s largest Iranian diaspora, while several hundred others gathered in New York, journalists in both cities reported.

US protesters could be seen carrying signs condemning a “New Holocaust,” a “genocide in the making,” and the “terror” of the Iranian government.

“My heart is heavy and my soul is crushed, I'm at loss for words to describe how angry I am,’ said Perry Faraz at the demonstration in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the US.

The 62-year-old payroll manager, who fled Iran in 2006, learnt this week that one of her young cousins had been killed during the overseas rallies held in her native country.

“He wasn't even 10 years old, that’s horrible,’ she said.

Demonstrations sparked by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests late December in what has been widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in recent years.

The rallies subsided after a government crackdown in Iran that rights groups have called a “massacre” carried out by security forces under the cover of a communications blackout that started on January 8.