As tensions between protesters and the government continue in Iran, Iranian American groups in Orange County, California, have come together to amplify the voice of the people in their motherland through various means—from holding rallies and art exhibits, to pushing city officials to pass resolutions condemning the Iranian regime.
Rally and Art Exhibit in Newport Beach
About 2,000 people attended a Nov. 20 protest at the Newport Beach Civic Center, accompanied by an art exhibit and Iranian live music.“Our goal is to echo the voices that are not heard as much coming out of the city,” Nikki Vaez from the Iranian Circle of Women’s International Networking, a lead organizer for one of the demonstrations at the protest, told The Epoch Times.
Vaez said their demonstration “Hear Our Silence” symbolizes the silence of the international community and English-language media, as well as the suppression of dissenting voices in Iran for decades.
Women joined in a circle holding hands and facing outward, with signs representing different Iranian ethnic and minority groups, according to Vaez. Inside the circle lay women with bloodied shirts illustrating the mass murders taking place in Iran. The group was completely silent for the whole duration.
Mayor Kevin Muldoon and Councilwoman Diane Dixon also expressed their support of the Iranian movement at the rally.
Protest in Irvine
Around 300 people gathered on Nov. 20 in Irvine—at the intersection of Barranca Parkway and Culver Drive—blowing horns and chanting “down with the dictator” and “no deal with the mullahs.”They plead with the U.S. government, or any government, to have “no deal” with Iran’s leadership.
“This Islamic regime does not stand for humanity,” protest organizer Masoud Ashrafi told The Epoch Times.
Ashrafi, a businessman and resident of Laguna Niguel, said he has been volunteering his free time to organize protests for the past two months.
“If we as human beings don’t stand up to be their voice, I myself would be ashamed to call myself a human being,” he said. “It’s not about Iran. It’s about innocent women and children who are fighting with nothing but rocks in their hands.”
‘Solidarity Vigil for Tehran Uprising’ at Irvine Spectrum Center
On Nov. 17 near the Irvine Spectrum Center, around 500 people participated in a candlelight vigil and silent protest to mourn 9-year-old Kian Pirfalak, who was shot and killed the day before in Izeh—a city in the southwest region of Iran—amid violent encounters between protesters and government forces.While Iran’s officials and state media reports claimed that Pirfalak was killed by a group of extremist terrorists, his mother said he was shot by “plainclothes forces,” according to a video circulated on social media.
While holding candles and photos of the boy, attendees chanted together, asking the United Nations to “take some action.”
Sudi Farokhnia, vigil organizer and acting president of the Iranian American Democrat Party, told The Epoch Times community members came together to demand justice for innocent people killed by the regime.
Farokhnia said government forces in Iran “started doing point-blank shooting sprees on the streets.”
“A government that kills children is not a government that represents its people,” she said.
According to Farokhnia, the event also showed support for the businesses closed during the six-day anti-government strike in Iran, which ended on Nov. 20, and marked the third anniversary of the “Bloody Aban”—or “Bloody November,” a series of street violence sparked by a sudden spike in fuel prices in 2019 that reportedly led to around 1,500 deaths.
OC Cities Condemning Iran
The Irvine City Council passed a resolution on Nov. 22 to condemn the Iranian government “for the physical beating and death of Mahsa Amini by Iran’s morality police.”Other cities that have already done so include Mission Viejo, Fullerton, and Costa Mesa.
Henny Abraham, Costa Mesa resident and Iranian outreach chair for the Orange County Republican Party, told The Epoch Times her goal is to get the Orange County cities with the biggest Iranian populations to pass the resolution she drafted by the end of the year. She said she has contacted 194 city councilors since mid-October.
Abraham said she shaved her head to protest the mandated hijab wearing in Iran when she was 12, before coming to the United States at the age of 14. She was threatened with jail time for not wearing the headscarf, she said.
“I’m doing what I can so no Iranian, or woman, will ever be treated the way the Iranian women have been,” she said.
According to Abraham, recent rallies in the county may have helped push cities to pass the resolution, especially the larger ones in Anaheim and Costa Mesa a few weeks ago where police had to conduct traffic control on major streets.
“These weekly rallies will continue until Iran is a free country with a secular democratic government, and no more innocent Iranian blood is shed,” she said.
