Thousands of Iranians gathered at the tomb of King Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae on October 30, 2016, the anniversary of Cyrus entering Babylon in 539 BC, to protest against the clerical regime’s policies, it was reported briefly on bbc.com and extensively on breitbart.com the following day. Despite attempts by the police to seal the roads and divert traffic in the area as also shutting down the Internet two days prior to the rally, an unprecedented number of Iranian protesters assembled, chanting "Iran is our country, Cyrus is our father” and "Clerical rule is synonymous with only tyranny, only war.” Iran’s original flag bearing the lion and sun (shir-o-khorshid) were carried by the crowd.
At the launch of the first official fire temple in
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan Photos: ekurd.net
Although "Day of Cyrus” has been observed since many years, this was reportedly the largest turnout by the Iranian people since the revolution 37 years ago. "I think this is even bigger than the riots following the fraudulent reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” stated Arash Razi who is involved with the Constitutional Party of Iran and runs a bilingual Persian-English newspaper Mehr-e-Iran from Los Angeles. He was further quoted by breitbart as stating, "It’s unbelievable that the regime tried very hard to intimidate and scare everyone but their efforts did not stop the people… This is very good news about Iran and for the people of Iran and the world.”
Pooya Dayanim, president of the Iranian Jewish Public Affairs Committee, told Breitbart News that the rally was an indication that "the generation that was born after the revolution of 1979…consider themselves a burnt generation.” According to Dayanim, for the Iranian citizens, "getting in touch with their rich Iranian heritage from the pre-Islamic era is one of the only sources of pride they have…”
A few weeks prior, the defacing of the farohar symbol in the Yazd City Hall had resulted in an on-line petition which snowballed into "8000+ signatures from around the world. It worked effectively and efficiently. The government authorities…have taken appropriate action,” reported Dr Dolly Dastoor, editor of FEZANA Journal, the quarterly publication of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America.
As explained on the website ProtectOurHeritage.co, the petition was "a non-political and a grassroots initiative by Zoroastrians outside Iran.” The petition reiterated, "We have lived in peace and harmony and in an environment of mutual respect with all our neighbors regardless of their religions in Iran for centuries. We are known in general population as one of the most honest, hardworking, caring and decent people.” Protesting against the mullah and a few others defacing the historical and holy symbol, the petition noted, "If we do not object now, it may be used as a starting point and set precedence for a few others… We are asking responsible people to protect the historical rights of Zoroastrians of Iran…”