Hundreds rally outside Iranian UN ambassador's Fifth Avenue residence calling for regime change
Shouts of "Trump act now!" filled the sunny Saturday afternoon on New York's Fifth Avenue as hundreds of anti-Iranian regime protestors denounced the theocratic regime in Tehran and called for the U.S. to take action against Iran.
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"We want freedom for the Iranian people," said protester Sarah Shahi. "We want this theocracy that has been taking people's rights away to be taken out with whatever means necessary. We need help when so many people have been killed."
The protesters gathered across the street from the residence of Iran's ambassador to the United Nations and called for the regime in Tehran to be toppled.
The ornate 19th century limestone townhouse was originally purchased by the Iranian government under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran who ruled from 1941 until 1979. It has been the official home of the country's UN representative ever since. Protests have been rare at the location, but at some point, overnight, someone spray-painted the words "terrorists" and "killers" on the front facade.
The building's location is one of the most exclusive on the Upper East Side, diagonally across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and less than a block away from the former residence of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
One protester's sign showed a photograph of current Iranian UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani with the words "A terrorist lives here."
"For the people of the Islamic republic to be residing here is just so unjust," said Shahi. "But it is the closest thing we have to an embassy" as a protest location.
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Since Iran does not have diplomatic relations with the United States, the building is the only Iranian government-owned property in the country.
President Trump has ordered U.S. warships to within striking distance of Iran as he considers potential attacks against the regime's nuclear program, oil and military targets. The buildup is in response to Iran's continued support of terrorism and its brutal mass killings of protesters, with estimates saying as many as 30,000 people have been killed for participating in anti-regime street demonstrations.
The protesters in Manhattan are supporters of the late shah's son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has been speaking out for weeks against the regime as its barbaric crackdown continued. Pahlavi has been in exile for 47 years, since his father fled and the Iranian revolution ushered in the hardline religious Anti-American regime of the Mullahs.
The chants from the protesters were no less impassioned than those of their brethren who have flooded the streets of Iranian cities. Signs demanded "End the regime in Iran," and "Brave Iranians are fighting on the ground. The U.S. and Israel must act against a common enemy now." Other signs proclaimed, "No to the Islamic Republic regime," and "Make Iran Great Again."
The protesters say they are waiting for President Trump to take military action against the regime so that the nation can finally taste freedom.