BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) — Hundreds marched and rallied in San Francisco Saturday afternoon denouncing the Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran. Among them, many Iranian Americans who say foreign governments should not intervene in how Iran is governed. Iranians can do it themselves.
They held up signs at the Ferry Building and along Market Street that read “Hands off Iran” and “No bombs on Iran.”
“Whether its trump or U.S. imperialism, the whole system itself, we have to come together. Enough is enough,” Cameron Kay, an activist.
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“I don’t think Americans understand U.S. imperialism, U.S. intervention,” said Dina Saadeh, the protest’s organizer. “In order to really understand what is going on, we have to understand our own role in what’s happening.”
She says she is happy with the hundreds who turned out since they only had hours to prepare.
“I think it’s important for us to react swiftly and show our numbers because ordinary people coming together for this scares warmongers,” she said.
“The assassination of one person will not bring that regime down,” said George Bisharat, Professor Emeritus University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.
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Calls for regime change in Iran came from the streets of Berkeley Saturday in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli joint strikes.
Professor Emeritus George Bisharat believes the Iranian expected the attack. And that the government will likely prove more durable than most think.
Many also point out that negotiations were underway with Iran, and now question whether the U.S. was bargaining in good faith.
“Iranians are proud. And they will not look kindly, I predict, on the U.S.-Israeli attack is an attempt to install a government that friendly to Israel,” Professor Bisharat said.
“I don’t think it’s about the nuclear scenario and all in Iran. I mean, just month ago, Trump was saying that is completely destroyed. And now all of a sudden it is a concern again,” said Yasmine Mortazavi, who was one of the Iranian Americans who took part. She believes the attacks on Iran is just about regime. Which she opposes being done by outside forces.
“Sanctioning the Iranian people. And dropping bombs on them. And I think if the United States lifted that pressure, the Iranian people in Iran can decide what they want to happen to their country,” she said.
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