People Hold Global Rallies In Support Of Iranian Women

Demonstrators, wearing The Handmaid's Tale costumes, take part in a rally against the oppression of women in Iran, on International Women's Day, in Piccadilly Circus, in London, Britain March 8, 2024.
Demonstrators, wearing The Handmaid's Tale costumes, take part in a rally against the oppression of women in Iran, on International Women's Day, in Piccadilly Circus, in London, Britain March 8, 2024.

On the occasion of the International Women's Day, protests were held in several cities including in Germany, the UK, and Sweden in solidarity with Iranian women.

The demonstrations in London and Stockholm were held outside parliaments, with the protesters demanding that these counties hold Iran accountable for its human rights violations.

Designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization was the key demand in the gatherings. The IRGC is the main force for the crackdown on dissent by the Islamic Republic.

The demonstrators said that the IRGC has not only suppressed women during the 2022 uprising – ignited by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, but also put them under pressure, imprisoned them, and killed them over the past four decades for pursuing their basic rights.

In Gothenburg, another Swedish city, Iranians gathered to support women in Iran and to call for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

The protesters carried pictures of political prisoners such as Nasrin Sotoudeh and Narges Mohammadi, as well as pictures of some of those killed in the uprising.

In London, a group of Iranian women staged a silent protest in front of the parliament, wearing red dresses similar to the characters of the TV series "The Handmaid's Tale". The Handmaid's Tale is a series set in a dystopian New England, in which an authoritarian, totalitarian, religious and anti-women government as overthrown the United States government and victimizes its citizens, especially women.

The protesters outside the British Parliament told Iran International that Iranian women are the real victims of a religious and oppressive government as they grapple with the consequences of a gender apartheid, highlighting the similarities between the series and the real lives of women in Iran.