A community spokeswoman, who declined to be named for safety reasons, said the group marched from the University of Otago clocktower to the Octagon in protest at the killing of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Zhina Amini in September.
Amini died in a hospital in Teheran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances after she was arrested by the Guidance Patrol (the religious morality police of Iran’s government), for not wearing a hijab.
The Law Enforcement Command of Islamic Republic of Iran stated she had a heart attack at the police station and fell into a coma, but eyewitnesses said she was severely beaten and she died as a result of police brutality.
Her death has prompted a series of protests in Iran, which have since spread around the globe.
Saturday’s protest march coincided with more than 100 similar protests in other countries, and more are expected to follow.
The group spokeswoman said many protesters in Iran had been arrested or killed by police, and the government was quashing all broadcasting of the protests in a bid to hide the issue.
She hoped the protest march in Dunedin and others around the world on Saturday, would help shine a light on the issues in Iran.
"The protests are in support of Iranians fighting for their freedom, and our main mission is to keep their voices heard and keep their voices going.
"Without that, the [Iranian] government will succeed in silencing them."
