Hundreds of mostly pro-Shah, pro-freedom, and anti-regime Iranian-Canadians gathered to “be a voice” for the millions of Iranians who are without internet and electricity and are being massacred by the regime. They called for action from the international community, particularly the U.S., which has promised to “rescue” the Iranian people.
Hundreds gathered at Nathan Philips Square on Sunday in Toronto, calling for an end to the Islamic dictatorship and for U.S. President Donald Trump to strike the regime during the 15th night of uprisings in the country. Iran International media has reported that at least 12,000 people have been killed by the Islamic regime ruling Iran.
“We ask Canada, first and foremost, as Iranian-Canadian, to support our people who struggle for freedom. And this should not be selective. I think anybody who stands for freedom and secular democracy should support the Iranian people and be their voice right now,” Rose Bahrami, the president of Iranian-Canadian Legal Professionals, told True North on the scene. “They are unarmed civilians, and they’re up against a regime that’s murderous, and it’s armed to the teeth. Anybody who thinks they can do this without any help is either delusional or they’re making a case for the survival of the Islamic Republic.”
Bahrami said “nobody wants to see intervention in their country,” but people living under authoritarian regimes in the past sometimes needed the help of other countries to be liberated from their oppressors.
“To think that Iranian people, unarmed, can do this on their own, without support that actually matters on the ground, is denying the reality that they’re facing the tragedy that they’re facing, and they’ve been paying for it with their lives,” she said. “They’ve been massacred by the thousands, and they’re still on the streets.”
She said Trump’s promises to “rescue” the Iranian people and to make the regime “pay a big price” give Iranians hope. She also called on Canada and European countries to expel Iranian diplomats and officials and to prevent regime officials and their families from getting visas to live in Western countries.
Dorsa Bondar, a young Iranian protester, told True North that protesters are overwhelmingly behind the exiled son of Iran’s last Shah, or King, Reza Pahlavi, who has promised a transitional government to make way for referendums in a secular democracy if and when the regime falls.
“The people need the support of Donald Trump and any country, any person, any people in power who can help us, because it’s just people against this regime that has bombs, they have missiles, they have every power and everything in this world, and the people are just powerless in that sense,” she said. “We are all waiting for some help to come from the U.S.”
Bondar said the people of Iran need the world’s attention right now as the regime attempts to isolate revolutionaries by cutting phone lines, internet, and electricity.
“We really hope for action from European countries, the U.S., Canada and everywhere else, not just words,” she said.
Golnaz Raoufi, a protester who was visibly emotional from the news in Iran, said Canada needs to stop letting terrorists such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military arm of the regime, into Canada. Reports from over two years ago estimated that at least 700 Iranian regime agents were covertly operating in Canada.
Raoufi was outraged about the level of coverage and activism from people who say they care about human rights about the Israel-Hamas war, compared to what is happening in the West in support of the thousands of Iranians being killed by the Islamic Republic “terrorists.”
“Everybody spoke about Palestine. Why does nobody talk about us? Are we not human? Our government is attacking people in hospitals!” she said. “Right now, we don’t have any hope. We don’t have any power. We are powerless people. If we stand without guns, if we stand without anything, they kill us.”
She said the only hope for her country is international intervention.
Raoufi said a free Iran would mean a freer global society, with free trade between nations, an end to the largest state funder of terrorism, a new ally in the Middle East and a safer world altogether. She added that if the regime falls, most of the Iranian refugees living in Canada would return to their home country to help rebuild a new democracy founded on the principles of freedom and justice.