Protest calls for Govt action in support of Iran

Demonstrator Mitra Mohammadi lays out messages of solidarity in the Octagon at a protest in Dunedin on Saturday calling for the New Zealand Government to take a more assertive stance against human rights violations by the government of Iran. Photo: Peter McIntosh

Dunedin resident Ali Mostolizadeh said the group of about 30 demonstrators marched from the Dunedin Botanic Garden to the Octagon on Saturday to show solidarity with demonstrators in Iran.

The demonstrations were sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September after she was detained for not wearing her hijab correctly.

Since then, about 350 Iranians had died while protesting against their government, Mr Mostolizadeh said.

The Dunedin march, organised by an independent group of Iranian-New Zealanders, started at a kowhai tree planted for Pouya Bakhtiari — a 27-year-old Iranian electrical engineering student who was shot dead during the Bloody November protests in 2019.

It was the seventh protest in Dunedin in recent months as part of a global call for action.

Mr Mostolizadeh was born in Iran and had been in New Zealand for about three years.

A revolution was happening in his home country.

"People of Iran want regime change."

While New Zealand had suspended its bilateral human rights dialogue with Iran, its people needed more than symbolic support from the New Zealand Government.

He hoped the Government would expel the Iranian ambassador and would support calls to remove Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

A man shouted abuse at the demonstrators as they moved down George St, and said they were achieving nothing — but Mr Mostolizadeh said it was important for the protesters to show solidarity with those protesting in Iran and the act of public mourning was good for their mental health.

The protest was one of five taking place across New Zealand which helped keep up pressure on the New Zealand Government to act.

Representatives of the Iranian community in New Zealand would meet the foreign minister on November 29.

He encouraged Dunedin residents to help by contacting members of Parliament and promoting the messages of protesters.

"It’s a revolution in Iran ... we just want the government of New Zealand to do some practical actions in response to what’s going on," Mr Mostolizadeh said.