Community members gathered in front of the Tommy Trojan statue on Friday for a vigil commemorating the lives of civilians killed by the Iranian government after weeks of ongoing anti-government protests.
Friday’s vigil was organized by the USC Persian Academic and Cultural Student Association (PACSA). The group organized a similar vigil a week prior, on Jan. 16.
The organizations are the latest in a series of demonstrations against the Iranian government over worsening economic conditions, human rights abuses and widespread political corruption. Demonstrations in solidarity with Iranian protestors have taken place across the United States, including in downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 18.
With around 30 people present Friday, the vigil began with 12 minutes of silence in honor of some 12,000 civilians killed on Jan. 8 and 9 during an internet blackout imposed by the Iranian government. Attendees then recited the names of specific civilians killed during the blackout.
Exact counts of civilian deaths are disputed, in part due to the internet blackout. The Iranian government has reported just over 3,000 deaths; other senior officials have said the actual death toll may exceed 30,000, as of Jan. 25.
Some demonstrators also covered themselves in black bags and laid on the ground near Alumni Park, with images of some of the deceased civilians on their faces. The act was meant to replicate how civilian bodies were laid out in Iran for family members to identify in the aftermath of the internet blackout.
Nilgoon Askari, an organizer for the vigil, explained that this part of the demonstration was added after images of protestors’ bodies trickled in from Iran.
“[Authorities] put the bodies in black plastic bags with their feet on top and asked family members to come and recognize the bodies,” Askari said. “They had to pay to receive their bodies. Otherwise, they wouldn’t give the body to the families.”
Media Ahmadi, who graduated from USC in the fall, said she attended the vigil to mourn the victims and to educate people about the situation. She also said she still has family in Iran that she worries about.
“The least I can do is show up for the many thousands of young people who have been killed as a result of wanting basic human rights and advocating for that publicly, unarmed, as well,” Ahmadi said. “So I feel like it’s really important for not only to show up among our own people, but also educate other people.”
The internet blackout has effectively isolated many Iranians from the rest of the world and the media, Ahmadi said, adding that she only recently spoke to her own cousin after two weeks of silence.
Ahmadi said she felt there has been a lack of news coverage about the violence occurring in Iran. She expressed hope that demonstrations in other parts of the world would bring attention to the reality of those living in Iran.
“It shows the regime’s brutality that they cut off the internet and they start killing people, and the news doesn’t come out, and we actually don’t know how many people they killed,” she said. “I heard from the people who just connected to [the] internet that they’re saying there are many more people killed, but we have no idea.”