By Timothy Kudo
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Thousands of people, some of them refugees of a country
embroiled in the turmoil of a 21-year revolution, gathered
peacefully in front of the Federal Building July 8, in support of a
student movement calling for democratic reforms in Iran.
Under a sky dazzled with the red, white, blue and green of
American and Iranian flags, the group came together on the one-year
anniversary of a police raid on a college dormitory that left one
student dead in Tehran.
Across the globe, Iranian students outside Tehran University
joined their Westwood counterparts to commemorate the somber day.
But unlike the peaceful protest here, demonstrations abroad turned
bloody as pro-democracy protesters fought with right-wing
extremists.
“We are here to tell the people, the American people, that
our students are in jail in Iran,” said Steve Nejat, one of
the demonstrators.
Nejat left Iran during the Islamic revolution of 1979 when
right-wing religious extremists, backed by many Iranians, overthrew
the monarchy.
At the time, Nejat was working at a factory, but he said when
the government changed, so did the way he was treated.
“They asked me to come to the office and they said,
“˜You are Jewish. You did this. You did that,’ he said.
“And they laid me off.”
Afterward, he sold everything he owned in order to buy his way
out of the country. He then traveled over the mountains to
Pakistan.
“They thought it would change and get better,” Nejat
recollected about the attitude people had toward the revolution.
“It’s changed ““ but it’s getting
worse.”
Eijan al-Andd also described the current state of oil-rich Iran,
in which food and water are lacking in parts of the country.
“No economy, no jobs, nothing,” al-Andd said.
“Everything is going down.”
Al-Andd said he left before the revolution but went back for a
short time only to realize that there was no future there.
Some demonstrators brought lawn chairs or sat in wheelchairs
with their children and grandchildren, who smiled while they
carried flags and candles alongside the marchers. Many protesters
exchanged hugs and greetings with friends and relatives.
After speeches by Iranian scholars and community members, the
demonstrators began marching to UCLA, shutting down
Westwood’s major streets.
The sea of thousands snaked from the federal building to four
blocks away at the intersection of Le Conte Avenue and Westwood
Boulevard.
As they walked, many protesters thanked the Los Angeles Police
Department officers who directed the crowd using megaphones.
Cries for help from the crowd’s chant of “United
Nations, pay more attention,” and banners saying, “Stop
executing students in Iran,” were shadowed by more sinister
slogans like “Death to the Islamic Republic.”
In the midst of the march, a toddler walking uneasily waved a
miniature Iranian flag over his head while his mother scrambled to
keep up.
As the crowd gathered in the middle of their march, they began
singing the Iranian national anthem before turning and heading back
to the Federal Building.
Some protesters gave money to a homeless man who was watching
the event.
The event didn’t make the evening news on many stations,
though an anti-immigration protest with far fewer people at the
Federal Building on July 4 drew several local newsvans.
One man, Charles Sedghi, said maybe the lackluster media
presence was because America didn’t want to get involved.
“It would be another Iraq,” he said.
As the protest wound down, the demonstrators placed the candles
they had been carrying on the concrete posts that dot the outskirts
of the federal building forming.
By the time the demonstration was over, the sky had faded into
darkness but the stars dotting the night were surpassed by the
thousands of burning flames lit below.