As many of you may be aware a protest has been organized in Toronto for Saturday June 27th 2009 on Yonge Street, supposedly in
Solidarity with the Iranian People. A few disturbing facts about this protest:
1. There is no indication what so ever about who the organizers of this protest are. Generally when organizing a protest and handing out flyers or leaflets the organizers of a protest leave their contact information so that people can contact them with comments and questions. However in this case the protest is being organized very anonymously.
2. Tonight (June 25th 2009) during the nightly pro-democracy protests which takes place in the Iranian Plaza on Yonge and Steeles, individuals involved with the organization of
Solidarity with Iran Protest were handing out leaflets which had information about the protest. On the bottom of this flyer there is a disturbing and threatening message written in capital letters and I quote:
LEGAL WARNING!
THERE WILL BE POLICE PRESENCE ALL ALONG THE ROUTE
THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE PLANNING TO BRING A FLAG WITH LOGO ON IT, YOU WILL END UP IN A STREET FIGHT WHICH WILL LEAD TO ARRESTS BY POLICE AND CRIMINAL RECORD!
The flyer was directly printed off from a facebook page called “Solidarity for Iran”, however when I logged onto
facebook and checked that very same page I saw that they had deleted this message from their facebook message.
I don’t know if the message was deleted because they realized that in Canada you cannot threaten people with physical assault, and arrest by police, or whether they just didn’t want to leave any evidence behind, that they were pre-meditating to assault protestors who had the Lion and Sun Flag.
Anyone who has been involved with the Iranian pro-democracy movement knows that the Islamic Regime is extremely fearful of the Lion and Sun Flag, in fact when Khomeini came to power in 1979 the very first thing he did was to change the symbol of Lion and Sun Flag! So it does not come as a surprise that Regime supporters and sympathizers in Toronto would try everything they can including resorting to violence to prevent people from carrying this flag!
I see this as a direct attack on freedom loving Iranian people who are peacefully working towards overthrowing the Islamic Regime and who carry the Iranian Lion and Sun Flag as a national symbol.
I urge all freedom loving Iranian people who have been carrying their Lion and Sun flags during the protests in the past two weeks to attend this protest with their flags held up high, to show solidarity and support for the Iranian people who are risking everything they have for freedom and democracy in Iran. We must show these Islamic Regime supporters that we will not be intimidated or scared of their threats!
I find it very interesting that people (who are unknown) who claim to be fighting for freedom have no problem trying to limit other people’s freedom by even resorting to threats of physical assault and violence.
We must remind these Regime Sympathizers that we do not live under the rule of Islamic Regime and even though this kind of behaviour may be accepted and very well received by the Islamic Regime, it will not be tolerated in Canada.
I know I will be there with a Lion and Sun Flag and so will many of my friends, there is no amount of threat that can stop us from fighting for what we believe in, which is freedom and democracy in Iran.
Down with the Islamic Regime in Iran and its Supporters in Canada
Long Live Freedom in Iran
