“Freedom for Iran”, “Free Iran”. These are the words on the banners waving between the flags wrapped on the shoulders or left waving along the path of the young Iranians, over 250, who demonstrated yesterday afternoon crossing the center from Piazza Antonello to Piazza Unione Europea. It is not the first time that they march making their voices heard and all the pain and anguish for a besieged land and for that denied freedom; a collective rite of memory and hope which, with the death of the dictator Ali Khamenei, political, religious and military leader of Iran, was rekindled. Since the beginning of the protests at the end of 2025 – which erupted due to the deep economic crisis, the collapse in the value of the currency and the growing demands for rights and freedoms – Iranian squares have been the scene of one of the largest waves of dissent in recent decades; these young people far from their homeland who came to Messina to study, have chosen to expose themselves (even if some of them have their faces covered): “We are not celebrating a death, but the possibility of a different future” says Hassan, 23 years old, a computer science student. He walks with a determined step, opens the line, chants slogans into the microphone; “for years we have witnessed repression, arrests, deaths, the blood of our fellow countrymen, almost 50 thousand people, must not be shed in vain, we will fight to redeem them and redeem ourselves”. Next to him is Matin, 24 years old, a student of economic sciences specializing in business management. In his words there is the awareness that “a country is not free if young people cannot build their own future. We want an Iran where we can study, innovate, do business without fear.
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