Photo credit: BBC
A rally in North York Saturday that drew an estimated 350,000 people called on the Canadian government to recognize Iran’s exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi as the leader of Iran’s democratic transition after anti-government protests erupted in Iran at the end of last year.
CBC News reports that Aveen Ghahremani, a co-organizer, said the focus of the demonstration was to make non-Iranians aware of the revolution and get them involved.
“We’re all here because of a lot of luck,” she said. “Some people in Iran are not as lucky.”
The message diaspora protesters hope to convey is that they stand behind those back in Iran, she said.
“As Canadian Iranians, we see the difference in our lives in Iran as opposed to what it is here with the freedoms we have,” she said.. “I don’t think we should take that for granted.”
People marched down Yonge Street to the beat of drums and chants of “King Reza Pahlavi.” Protesters held aloft and draped themselves in red, white and green flags emblazoned with a golden lion – the flag Iran used before the Islamic Republic came to power in 1979, toppling the previous monarchy.
Demonstrators called for an end to government repression in Iran as widespread protests inside the country have been met with violent crackdowns.
In a letter obtained by CBC Toronto, demonstration organizers urged the Government of Canada to take a “timely” and “constructive” step in Iran’s “ongoing national crisis.”
“For over four decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has ruled through systemic repression, widespread human rights violations, political violence and the denial of fundamental freedoms,” it said. “Its political, moral, and legal legitimacy has been irreversibly eroded, and that is a reality evident both inside Iran and across the international community.”
In a statement to CBC Toronto Saturday evening, a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson said the Government of Canada will continue to “hold Iran accountable for its violation of human rights.”
“Canada strongly condemns the killing of protesters, the use of violence, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation tactics by the Iranian regime against its own people,” Samantha Lafleur said.
Lafleur added Canada listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization in June 2024.
In a news release Saturday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand announced Canada is imposing additional sanctions against seven people linked to Iranian state bodies.
Iran’s use of proxy agents and criminal networks to silence critics through the use of harassment, surveillance and planned acts of violence in Europe and North America raised serious concerns, the statement adds.
Toronto police originally estimated more than 100,000 people would gather at the solidarity rally, which marched down Yonge Street Saturday. However, in a statement, they said the Global Day of Action Rally in Toronto saw crowds estimated at 350,000.
In an update, Toronto police said one person was arrested for assault at the demonstration at Yonge Street and \homewood Avenue around 3.15 pm.
The rally was one of many happening worldwide Saturday as part of what Pahlavi labelled a global day of action. He said Toronto, Munich and Los Angeles would be the main gathering points for Iranians living abroad to protest and call for regime change in Iran.
