Nearly 40,000 people gathered in Berlin in solidarity with the protesters in Iran. (AP)

Iran protests spur rallies in Europe, US

Chanting crowds have marched in the streets of Berlin, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles in a show of international support for demonstrators facing a violent government crackdown in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of that country’s morality police.

On the US National Mall, several hundred men and women of all ages – donning green, white and red, the colours of the Iran flag – chanted.

“Be scared. Be scared. We are one in this,” some shouted, ahead of the group’s march to the White House on Saturday. “Say her name! Mahsa!”

The demonstrations, put together by grassroots organisers from around the United States, drew Iranians from across the Washington DC area.

In Los Angeles, home to the biggest population of Iranians outside of Iran, a throng of protesters formed a slow-moving procession along blocks of a closed downtown street.

They chanted for the fall of Iran’s government and waved hundreds of Iranian flags that turned the horizon into a undulating wave of red, white and green.

The Biden administration has said it condemns the brutality and repression against the citizens of Iran and that it will look for ways to impose more sanctions against the Iranian government if the violence continues.

In Tehran, more anti-government protests took place Saturday at several universities.

Read the article by Farnoush Amiri in The Canberra Times.