(Image Credit: Contributed )

By Victor Kaisar

Rally for Iran

Iranian community in Kamloops organizing ‘Free Iran’ rally to amplify local voices

Jan 17, 2026 | 5:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Iranian community in Kamloops will be organizing a solidarity event at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) this Sunday (Jan. 18) afternoon.

Organizer Ali Alizadeh says the ‘Free Iran’ event will be held between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. in the lecture hall inside the TRU Students’ Union Building. He told CFJC it is being organized as the Iranian community in Kamloops wants to make their voices heard, given the atrocities in their homeland.

“There was that almost week of Internet shutdown, and there was no way that we could possibly have the chance to talk to our parents, our friends, our relatives in Iran,” Alizadeh said. “We literally have no idea who is killed, who is alive, who is wounded, or who is missing. We know whenever there are Internet shutdowns in Iran, something big is happening and it’s usually a lot of killing.”

On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, publicly acknowledged that thousands of people were killed during protests, which began on Dec. 28 over the economy. Those protests morphed into calls for the end of the Islamic Republic.

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It’s not the first time the Iranian community in Kamloops has struggled to get in contact with their loved ones.

Alizadeh said Sunday’s event is open to everyone, and he expects a few dozen people will be in attendance.

“Most of the Iranian community is going to be there to amplify the voice of Iranian people,” he added, noting there are plans to hold more similar gatherings across Kamloops in the days and weeks ahead.

“It’s going to happen constantly, possibly every week where we have gatherings to be voice for Iranian people. Tomorrow will be at TRU, maybe next week it’ll be at the river side or in front of the court house as we work to amplify our voice.”