More than 5,000 people rallied against Iran’s Islamic regime outside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Monday ahead of Iran’s World Cup opener against New Zealand.
Protesters waved pre-1979 Lion and Sun flags alongside American and Israeli flags and chanted slogans including “democracy for Iran,” “down with Hezbollah,” “regime change for Iran” and “no deal with the mullahs.”
Arezo Rashidian, one of the protest’s organizers, told JNS that FIFA had barred fans from bringing the Lion and Sun flag into the stadium. The flag, which was used before Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, has become a symbol for many opponents of the regime. FIFA has classified it as a political symbol prohibited under tournament rules.
“That flag represents secularism, democracy and freedom, and that’s why we’re here today,” she said.
Rashidian told JNS the demonstration was intended to show solidarity with Iranians living under the regime and to send a message to FIFA.
“We’re a voice for the people of Iran, and we will fight for you,” she said. “We will show FIFA that you can’t come to Los Angeles, with the largest Iranian American diaspora, and not allow us to have a flag that we have all held so dear to us for 47 years in Los Angeles.”
Some demonstrators carried signs declaring that Iran’s national soccer team did not represent the Iranian people and praising U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.
Darya Safai, a member of Belgium’s federal parliament who fled Iran after being imprisoned for anti-regime activism when she was 25, told JNS that protesters said the World Cup team is “not our national team, but it’s the team of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“We have the T-shirts of the people who have died for freedom and democracy,” she said, pointing to shirts bearing the names and photographs of Iranians whom demonstrators said were killed by the regime during the anti-government protests in January. “This is our real national team.”
According to Safai, the display underscored the message many protesters hoped to send.
“The people who are here, and from the Iranian diaspora, the sense is just, they don’t care about how Iran is going to play,” Safai told JNS. “The message is that we will show the world that this is not our regime, this is not what we want for our country.”
She added that she hopes that the “Iranian people are one day free and that we can also, in place of protesting against the regime, enjoy the game in silence.”
