Quick Take
Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and UC Santa Cruz students plan to gather at the downtown clocktower on Saturday evening to honor those who have died in Iran’s antigovernment protests.
UC Santa Cruz students and a local politician with Persian roots will hold a vigil on Saturday to honor those who have died in mass protests in Iran.
Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson is inviting community members to gather at the downtown Santa Cruz clocktower at 6 p.m. for a peaceful candlelit vigil to stand in solidarity with demonstrators and reflect on the lives lost in the antigovernment protests.
The event, co-hosted by Iranian UCSC student Baran Jafarieh, will be open to the public, according to a release shared Thursday. Flameless candles will be provided.
Recent protests in Iran began in late December, sparked by the regime’s weakening economy, and swelled to pose the biggest challenge to the authoritarian theocracy in years. The regime responded with an internet blackout and a crackdown that human rights groups say has killed thousands. The regime’s crackdown and heavy military and police presence has suppressed protest activity since Sunday, according to residents.
Kalantari-Johnson, who fled the country with her immediate family in 1984, shortly after the Khomeini regime took power, spoke to Lookout on Tuesday about the protests.
She was unable to reach her remaining extended family in Iran for about 10 days due to the internet blackout. Kalantari-Johnson told Lookout on Friday that her parents were able to contact her extended family in Iran once phone lines reopened.
Her cousins, uncles and aunts are OK, she said, but they are not able to share details over the phone because they fear their devices could be tapped.
Grace Chinowsky is Lookout Eugene-Springfield’s city of Eugene and University of Oregon correspondent. She is working in Santa Cruz through the end of January.
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