Eight Iranians took part in a four-day hunger strike beginning on Thanksgiving Day outside of the United Nations building in San Diego, rallying against the Iranian government’s recent imprisonment and killings of protestors.
The activists camped in tents in Balboa Park’s global village and only drank water, tea, and Gatorade.
The hunger strike was one of the latest demonstrations in Southern California and around the world after the Iranian regime imprisoned thousands and killed hundreds of activists who protested the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after three days in police custody in September, according to media reports.
She was allegedly detained by the so-called Islamic morality police in Tehran for showing a few strands of hair, a dress code violation in the country.
Ruja Kia, who helped organize the hunger strike, told The Epoch Times the first day of the demonstration was the hardest.
“The first day, it was very hard, which is interesting, because it’s supposed to get harder as you go along,” Kia said.
She said on Thanksgiving Day, there were very few people walking around, which made the day drag on slowly.
“The next three days, we had a lot of community members and a lot of people that were stopping by and talking to us. That made the time go by really fast,” Kia said.
She said speaking to passersby about the situation in Iran allowed the protestors to get through the feeling of hunger.
“It was a distraction because we could focus on the message more so than our physical or emotional feelings,” she said.
Of the eight hunger strike participants, six are members of the group that organize the event—the Iranian Circle of Women’s Intercultural Networking, a non-governmental organization that has consultative status at the United Nations, allowing them to weigh in on certain topics such as women, ethnic, and minority issues.
Kia, the secretary of the organization, said Iranian Kurdish locals in San Diego also contributed to the strike by bringing extra banners and posters.
She said Ukrainians from the House of Ukraine—a cultural museum in the park—visited their demonstrations, as well as Spanish-speaking individuals and many children.
A registered Emergency Medical Technician was on hand to monitor the participants’ health, she said.
According to Kia, two of the male protestors were feeling sick and had low blood pressure on the second day, but recovered after a while of resting.
Apart from not eating, the activists hung notes on a tree adjacent to the United Nations building displaying wishes for change in Iran and the names of imprisoned activists.
There was also a banner displaying more than 400 handwritten names of individuals that have died during the Iranian government’s recent crackdown. At night, lights illuminated the banner and the pictures and artwork illustrating the tragedies in Iran.
The protestors also morned the lesser-known deaths during the uprising, including 19-year-old Yalda Aghafazli and 16-year-old Arshia Emamgholi Zadeh, both committed suicide two days after their release from the regime’s custody, according to the group.
