As a midday rain fell on the chanting Iranian-American protesters in downtown Minneapolis Wednesday, the ink began to run on their handmade posters that read "Freedom" and "Where is my vote?"
But Sara Nasir-Amini stood silent and focused.
Dressed in green, Nasir-Amini held a poster of the same color displaying a photo of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old whose videotaped death last week during protests in Tehran became a rallying point for the pro-democracy movement. The two women were the same age.
"When I saw Neda's moment, I was crying for three hours, and I couldn't sleep at night," said the software engineer from Minneapolis who came to Minnesota from Iran in 2003. "It's not just Neda. I've seen other people, and there are many."
Nasir-Amini was one among more than 100 Iranian-Americans and their supporters who turned up at the Hennepin County Government Center Plaza to decry ongoing violence in Iran and to show solidarity with Iranian protesters they say are being unjustly arrested, beaten and killed since the contested June 12 presidential election.
The protest in Minneapolis, organized through e-mail lists and local websites, was one among many throughout the world.
Passersby honked and employees on their lunch breaks stopped to watch as the group chanted in English and Farsi. A young man held a photo of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad altered to look like Adolf Hitler, while others displayed photos of killed and injured Iranians.
Despite their fury over what is happening in their homeland, many say they are optimistic democracy will prevail, with help from the West, said Mohammad Rointan, an engineer from Burnsville who arrived in the United States in 1978.
"We need President Obama to act more to tell the world that he's on our side," Rointan said. "No more appeasing the whole world. Appease these people. They've been waiting for 30 years. Sometimes you need help in your life, and this time we're not gonna wait anymore."
Nasir-Amini agrees, saying that unlike Ahmadinejad and his pursuit of nuclear weapons, many Iranians steer toward a different goal.
"We are not violent people," Nasir-Amini said, gesturing to the crowd. "Look at these people. They are from Iran. We want peace everywhere."
Abby Simons • 612-673-4921
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