About 80 people demonstrated Saturday in downtown Minneapolis to support Mahsa Amini and the tens of thousands of Iranians protesting the young woman's death.
Minneapolis protesters denounce woman's killing by Iran's morality police
On the corner of 9th Street and Nicollet Mall, Iranian-Americans called for freedom in Iran – and particularly for Iranian women.
September 24, 2022 at 10:59PM
![Fahimeh Maanavi of Minneapolis chanted along with fellow protesters during a gathering in support of a nationwide uprising against tyranny in Iran and to condemn the killing of Mahsa Aminini by 'morality police' Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022 in downtown Minneapolis. ] ANTHONY SOUFFLE • anthony.souffle@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ATDLYJTXC53PDH57DMDBWJ2GOE.jpg?&w=712)
Amini, 22, died Sept. 16 in Tehran while in custody of Iran's morality police. She had been arrested for violating the country's strict rules on wearing the hijab, a head covering for women.
Protests have broken out in 80 Iranian cities; at least 50 people have been killed by security forces, and prominent human rights activists and journalists have been arrested, the New York Times reported.
On the corner of 9th Street and Nicollet Mall, Iranian-Americans and others rallied on an overcast afternoon, some carrying signs saying "Remember her name: Mahsa Amini."
They called for freedom in Iran – and particularly for Iranian women.
"Women in Iran basically want the right to decide whether to cover their head or not – they are against being forced to," said Peggy, a 36-year-old Minneapolis resident who immigrated from Iran 12 years ago. "A 22-year-old should not be dead because of this."
She declined to give her last name, saying she fears for her relatives in Iran.
The protests sweeping Iran are the largest since 2009 when then-President Mahmoud Amadinejad was re-elected in an election tainted with voting irregularities.
Reza Zoghi of Minneapolis said demonstrators in Minneapolis "are here to support Iranian women and to support the people of Iran. ... The regime in Iran won't change the hijab law. The regime needs to be changed."
Zoghi, 36, fled Iran for Turkey around 2010, and came to the U.S. as a refuge four years ago. He said he had been imprisoned and tortured for five days at Iran's notorious Kahrizak prison for demonstrating against Amadinejad's re-election in 2009.
The (Iranian) regime is not from the people," Zoghi said. "People want freedom."
From small businesses to giants like Target, retailers are benefitting from the $10 billion industry for South Korean pop music, including its revival of physical album sales.
