Thousands march through central London in solidarity with the women of Iran

A crowd is gathering at Trafalgar Square in central London this afternoon in solidarity with anti-government protests in Iran. 

Earlier on Sunday, hundreds of protesters marched through central London from Marble Arch and have set up a stage beside Nelson’s Column, draped in pre-revolutionary Iranian flags.

Protests have been mounting in and outside of Iran since a 22-year-old Iranian woman, Masha Amini, died in police custody in Tehran in September 2022 after being arrested for allegedly violating strict hijab rules. 

8 January 2023 also marks the third anniversary of the shooting down of civilian passenger jet Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran amid tensions between Iran and the United States. 

Masha Amini died in hospital in Tehran after her arrest by Iranian police for violating hijab rules

Protester calling for Reza Shah II for Iran, referring to the westernising Pahlavi dynasty

Earlier today, The Mirror reported two more men has been executed by the Iranian regime, officially convicted of allegedly killing a paramilitary volunteer during a demonstration. 

In recent weeks, Iran has increased resistance to a global protest movement, started by the death of Ms Amini in September 2022.

Despite reports that the ‘morality police’  had stopped patrols and hijab enforcement in December 2022, police officials in Iran last week confirmed that morality police would enforce a new scheme for hijab wearing.

Protestors are seen in London waving flags of Iran used before the Islamic Revolution of 1979

Protesters gather at Marble Arch in central London before they march to Trafalgar Square

Protesters seeking regime change and justice for the victims of Iranian state oppression

Masha Amini went into a coma after being arrested in Tehran in September and died in hospital. 

The Islamic Republic’s officials told media that Amini suffered a heart attack while detained by ‘morality police’, denying reports she had been beaten.

Iranian rights activists have urged women to publicly remove their veils, risking arrest for defying the Islamic dress code.

Protesters in London were today seen waving the pre-revolutionary Iranian flag and calling for the Mashroote Constitution and Reza Shah II for Iran.

The Mashroote Constitution refers to the Persian Constitutional Revolution in English, a revolution in Iran between 1905 and 1911 that created a parliament in then Persia. 

Reza Shah II refers to the son of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the westernising Iranian head of state between 1925 and 1979.

In 1979, the Shah was deposed by Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran was declared an Islamic Republic.

The first modern ‘morality police’ units were developed in Saudi Arabia in 1926, and similar squads tasked with enforcing dress codes and prayer attendance have emerged worldwide since.

Protesters pose in mock gallows as they gather in central London on Sunday 8 January 2023

Protesters wave flags on the third anniversary of the downing of Ukrainian passenger jet, flight PS752, by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shortly after it’s takeoff from Tehran

Protesters seen gathering at Muenster square in Bonn, Germany, yesterday afternoon

The delivery to the Iranian Embassy in Rome of the signatures collected by the newspaper La Stampa to protest against the death sentences and the violence against demonstrators in Iran