A group of Iranian activists who have spent the winter camped outside the Manchester Islamic Centre are going into their 30th day of protests.
The campaigners allege the centre has a political link to the current heavily-criticised Iranian regime, although staff deny this.
Some among the group are also on hunger strike and feel they have been ignored because they are not British.
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The activists say the sit-in, which started on the 6 December, was the ‘next step’ after their petition for the closure of the centre reached over 35k signatures with no response from government officials or bosses at the centre.
According to the group who have been using Tik Tok to spread their message as 'Women for the Liberty of Iran', hundreds of people from across the UK have joined them in the 30 days and they plan to continue the sit-ins as well as hunger strikes until the centre is closed or they receive a ‘meaningful answer’ from the mosque about their stance on the regime.
Speaking to the MEN, one protestor, named Soudebah, said: “This was a question that we’ve asked several times, do you support them or not? They’ve tried to not answer. They are not separated from the Iran regime, they are one of the branches of the regime here.
"We want a 'meaningful answer from the Islamic centre and we want support. If we were British Citizen stood outside here we wouldn't be ignored, but I feel like Iranian people are ignored."
The days and nights in the unforgiving winter weather have not been easy for the protestors. According to another activist, Donya, a majority of them have taken ill with chest infections and they are now sleeping in the back of a van after their Manchester City Council asked them to remove their tent.
Donya says: “We’ve all had chest infections, we used to have a tent that was taken by the council because they said it blocked the pavement. But we still wanted to say.”
Soudebah continued: “It’s been really difficult, you can imagine the mental health effects of sleeping outside in the freezing cold, going on hunger strike and watching your countryman being attacked."
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The protests are standing in solidarity with the Iranian ‘revolution’ that has been sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Amini died in police custody after being arrested by the ‘morality police’ for breaking hijab laws. Police said she died of a heart attack, but her family say she had no history of heart trouble.
The group say their Tik Tok posts have been receiving ‘lots of love’ particularly from Iran. Donya said: “In Iran they can hardly connect to the internet, that’s why they feel like we’re standing with them. This is very valuable for the people of Iran that people joined to protest in any kind.”
Soudebah added: “People joined from Liverpool, South Yorkshire. People joined us to stand with us here and we said, we stand here in front of this centre to bring attention to decision makers, to bring the attention of council, MPs, Parliament, government, every person who is in power to investigate to do something.”
Amini’s death sparked widespread protests in Iran and across the world. Iranians in Manchester have held demonstrations in the city centre, during the world cup England players were asked to show solidarity and the Iranian national team also refused to sing the national anthem in response to the situation.
In September the Islamic centre was attacked for it’s alleged links to the regime which Women for Liberty of Iran say they had no involvement with. At the time, Imam of the centre Seyed Avaei told the MEN that he believes the vandal’s were trying to send a message to the Iranian government but said their anger was misplaced.
He told the MEN that the mosque have no links to the Iranian government and that they do not ‘interfere in political issues.’ Speaking back in September, he said: “This place does not belong to government. If they want to protest and send their voice, they have to at least go to the embassy.
“The mosque is a gathering for worship, we do not interfere in political issues. We don’t have anything in our programme that deals with politics.
“We have worshippers who come here who are pro government and anti government. Some people know we are Iranian and they think this place somehow belongs to the supreme leader.
“This is a registered charity we work here by the standards of the UK charity. We work here by observing the law in this area and country, we want peace and we do not interfere in politics at all."
A spokesperson for Manchester City Council said: "Following a visit by Council officers to the protest area on December 21, a letter was sent to the group's organisers requesting them to remove semi-permanent structures which had been installed on Council land. Items included a gazebo, tent, petrol generator and a fire pit.
"This was complied with, and the Council would like to confirm no items were seized or taken away.
"The Council respects the right to peaceful protest and will never take steps that would infringe this right. However, the Council will take action to remove obstructions to the highway or encampments set up without permission."
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