Dozens of Central Floridians gathered in downtown Orlando Sunday to celebrate the possible end of the Iranian regime amid U.S and Israeli attacks on Iran.
People in attendance chanted and danced outside of City Hall. They waved large American flags and the national flag of Iran that was used prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"The oppression has been going on for 47 years," said Pooyan Balouchian, an organizer of Sunday's demonstration and former president of the Iranian American Community Center of Central Florida.
The joint U.S. and Israel military operation against Iran killed the Middle Eastern country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been in power since 1989. Human rights organizations have long accused him of violently suppressing dissidents, and his opponents blamed him for the deaths of thousands of protestors in Iran. His death was celebrated by Iranian Americans who gathered in Central Florida this weekend.
Balouchian said the people of Iran are showing a level of excitement never seen before.
"In a normal situation when a country is under attack, the people of that country they're not excited, they are not happy, they have a lot of uncertainty, they have a lot of fear," Balouchian said. "This, however, is a unique situation, which is exactly the opposite reaction because the dictatorship is about to be gone and freedom is at reach."
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is a brutal and repressive regime," Rep. Anna Eskamani said in a statement on Saturday. She is the first Iranian-American elected to the Florida Legislature.
"For 47 years, it has imprisoned, tortured, executed, silenced, and massacred its own people. I have no sympathy for the Ayatollah, regime officials, or security forces responsible for that violence, and their deaths are a celebration for so many Iranians."
The Orlando Democrat said the Iranian people deserve freedom and self-determination and this moment is layered with hope, fear, and uncertainty. At the same time, she added, as an elected official she is concerned about consequences of prolonged U.S. military involvement.
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