SHOREWOOD — 50 Wisconsin-based Iranians and Milwaukee community members braced the cold in Shorewood Saturday morning to protest what they call Iran's dictatorship.
Since Jan. 7, Iranian Milwaukee community members lost contact with their parents, siblings and extended family still in their home country.
Watch here: Why Iranians who live in Southeast Wisconsin are protesting the leadership in their home country.
"It's not political," Parya Payami said. "It's a humanitarian crisis. It's a genocide that some people who are taking a country hostage are killing, opening fire on the civilians who are just going their unarmed to protest."
Payami is a PhD student and a Milwaukee-based Iranian resident who is protesting the regime.
Another organizer emailed TMJ4 News saying this would be the first of several peaceful protests they'd be holding.
"Internet is cut! People being shot!" chanted protesters.
"I said mom, please be careful!" Payami said. "I want to be with them. If it's a war, I want to be together. I'm sorry! I don't want to cry!" Payami said.
Payami added that she cannot reach her family because current Iranian leadership cut phone lines and the internet.
Ellaheh Jazemi said accurate information is hard to come by, but the last they heard, at least 12,000 protesters in Iran were killed.
"It's brutal, it's unforgettable forever," Jazemi said. "We cannot focus, we cannot laugh, we cannot even think about anything else."
She said all they want is democracy back home, not a dictatorship.
Both women said the local support stateside shows how important it is for them to keep speaking out. They hope people in power listen, since they said their families could be killed for protesting.
"It's hard to not hear anything from any of them and know they are in that state," Payami said. "It also gives me this very very big responsibility of being their voice and advocating for them as hard as I can."
Next, the organizers are planning a vigil for loved ones killed in Iran on the UW-Milwaukee campus on Jan. 26.
According to the most recent data from the non-partisan think tank Migration Policy Institute, more than 3,000 Iranians live in Wisconsin as of 2023.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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