Thousands rally in downtown L.A. for regime change in Iran
The rally, which was meant for Tehran, drew some 10,000 people from the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.
More than 20,000 people have gathered in a tent in front the Iranian embassy in downtown Los Angeles to rally against the regime in Tehran.
The protesters, about 30 of them including Americans, were seen carrying posters, wearing yellow bands on their wrists, in a symbolic show of solidarity with their Iranian counterparts.
Hundreds more marched through the streets in the west of the city and in the eastern district of Little Tehran, chanting slogans in support of the anti-Iranian protest movement in Iran.
Organiser Mohammad Ali Bani said the rally was held to “show the world the Iranian people are not afraid of anybody”.
The protest in Los Angeles “proves that the people of Iran are not afraid of the US or Israel,” he told AFP.
“The people of Iran are with all the oppressed people around us.”
The U.S. ambassador to Tehran said the embassy had been told by police to “remove all protesters, both inside and outside the embassy”.
“We have been told there are people demonstrating with a sign in support of the Iranian people, but that if they do not leave peacefully then we will come in and remove them,” said Mark Toner, who has been in Tehran since earlier this month.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Monday: “The U.S. has been very clear to the Iranian regime: leave taken. Now the time range to leave is rapidly decreasing. Time for another strategy!”
The U.S. has come in to the embassy with water cannons and riot gear, trying to keep the crowd from gathering inside.
While the authorities were forced to leave, the demonstrators remained at the gates of the embassy.
Demonstrators in Tehran have staged weekly rallies since March to protest poor living conditions, inflation, unemployment, the lack of social safety nets and rising prices.
In the past two weeks, there have been at least two smaller protests held in Tehran and Mashhad, the capital of northwestern Iran’sSemnan province close to the Iraqi border.