Thousands of Iranians rallied in Los Angeles on the fifth anniversary of the 1999 student uprising, which followed the police and security forces’ attack on Tehran University student dorms. Many arts and media celebrities in exile joined the demonstration. July 9, 2004- The anniversary of the student uprising of July 1999 has united the diverse groups of anti-regime activists scattered around the world, playwright/actor Parviz Sayyad tells Radio Farda’s Los Angeles correspondent Firoozeh Khatibi, as thousands of Iranian exiles gathered in a well-organized demonstration outside the Federal building in Los Angeles on Thursday.
“The student movement inside Iran elevated the sense of despair which had dominated exiles for many years,” Sayyad adds. “It gave them a rallying cry and a common cause,” he says.
Holding up photos of jailed students and scenes of the July 1999 student uprising, the mostly monarchist crowd marched along the Wilshire boulevard in a demonstration that was well attended by the local news media, Khatibi reports.
A distinct feature of this year’s demonstration is the large presence of young Iranian-Americans who have hardly ever lived in Iran, musician/composer Shahbaz Shabpareh tells Radio Farda.
Bita Bahrami, 23, one of the event’s organizers, tells Radio Farda that she has spent more than 18 years of her life in the US, but “I have not forgotten, even for one minute, the plight of the noble Iranians who are fighting the regime inside Iran and feel it is my duty to help the world hear their voice.”
