80,000 people demonstrate in Berlin against repression in Iran

” Freedom, freedom! Tens of thousands of people gathered this afternoon in the heart of Berlin, at the foot of the Victory Column, at the top of which is planted an Iranian flag. Among the participants in this demonstration organized by a group of women, some brandish posters with the main slogan of the Iranian mobilization “Women, Life, Freedom” (“Women, Life, Freedom”), others Kurdish flags.

More than a month after the death of the young Mahsa Amini and while the protest movement continues in Iran, they have come from all over Germany and even from neighboring countries, most often in buses chartered for the occasion, to show their support for the Iranian people. In the crowd, women, but also many men.

” The hijab? It was an excuse for this movement. We live under tyranny, a totalitarian regime. The men are behind the women. We demonstrate together. The issue is freedom, not just the hijab. We want a democratic regime, decide for ourselves “, Testifies an IT specialist to our correspondent, Nathalie Versieux. ” I have never seen such a thing! I had never imagined that so many Iranians lived in Germany! “Enthuses another protester.

Mahsa Amini, 22, died three days after she was arrested in Tehran by morality police who accused her of breaking the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, where the veil is compulsory for all women in public spaces . The crackdown on protests, the largest in Iran since those in 2019 against rising fuel prices, has left at least 215 people dead, including 27 children, according to the latest report from the Iran Human Rights (IHR)-based NGO. in Oslo.

” Today, thousands show their solidarity with brave women and protesters in Iran German Family Minister, environmentalist Lisa Paus, tweeted. ” We are by your side “, she added.