Thousands Of Iranians Gather To Protest At US Consulate

On February 11, 2023, the 44th anniversary of the start of the Islamic Republic of Iran, millions took to the streets worldwide to protest the regime and its continuing brutality towards the Iranian people. 

In Toronto, thousands gathered outside the US Consulate to protest the Biden administration’s perceived weakness on the issue of the Islamic Republic. In contrast to the Trump administration, which pushed for effective sanctions and maximum pressure to combat the regime’s terrorists both internally and internationally, the Biden administration has regressed to the Obama-era policy of appeasement.

The core demands of the protestors were to start to put legitimate pressure on the regime with sanctions, end the negotiations to try for a second Iran Deal and to fire the special envoy to Iran Robert Malley. To the pro-freedom Iranians, Robert Malley is a symbol of appeasement and bad policy. He was a strong supporter of the disastrous JCPOA, has been an enabler of the so-called “reformist” movement, and has consistently downplayed the revolution over the last few months. For someone like him to be the face of Iran Policy in the State Department shows the regime that the US is not taking the danger seriously.

The protest was organized by a former political prisoner, Salman Sima, and included a wide variety of Canadians, including an Indigenous group who performed a ceremonial blessing of the protest and a call for freedom.

The protest was well attended by thousands of people and by all measures very successful, however, near the end of the protest an instigator, Nasr Pooli, with a history of disrupting anti-regime protests assaulted Sima and broke his nose with a headbut. The police arrested the assailant.