Around 3 p.m., antiwar activists gathered to protest in Downtown Dallas Sunday afternoon following the United States and Israeli missile strikes on Iran over the weekend.
Over a hundred people of all ages stood on The Grassy Knoll off Elm Street holding signs that read “Human rights have no borders” and “We the people means everyone,” only a day after the United States and Israel started attacks on Iran.
The event was organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the DFW Antiwar Committee, the DFW branch of Party for Socialism & Liberation and others.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, was killed in Saturday’s attack on military and government sites in the country, Iranian state media reported early Sunday. The country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said a new supreme leader would be chosen in “one or two days.”
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As of Sunday afternoon, Iranian authorities said more than 200 people have been killed since the start of the strikes. Three members of the U.S. military have been killed, and five have been seriously wounded, according to U.S. Central Command.
Iran has launched counterattacks against U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar since the initial attack, the Associated Press reported.
The attacks have caused widespread protests.
In Dallas, organizers led those gathered in chants of “From the belly of the beast, hands off the Middle East” and “We want justice, you say ‘how?’ Hands off Iran now.”
As the crowds chanted on cars driving past honked their horns and threw peace signs at protesters.
Speakers from the Palestinian Youth Movement and Freedom Road Socialist Organization said they met today to grieve and acknowledge that shame is not a strong enough word to describe what is happening in Iran.
Sumayyah Chenault, with Palestinian Youth Movement, said the United States’ continuous aggression against other countries has grown tiresome and damaging.
“Americans are fed up with these forever wars,” Chenault said. “Trump campaigned on a promise of peace, and yet he’s only escalated violence from Venezuela to Gaza and now fully opened a new war against Iran.”
Rick Majumdar, who identified himself as part of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, told The Dallas Morning News that organizers oppose the strikes.
On Saturday, a couple dozen demonstrators gathered at John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in support of an organized resistance in Iran that is vouching for a peaceful transition to democracy.
Staff Writer Suryatapa Chakraborty contributed to this report.