Skip to main content

Protests in Seoul feature faces of slain Iranian schoolchildren

· 2 min read

Protests in Seoul feature faces of slain Iranian schoolchildren​

TEHRAN — With the faces of over 100 martyred Iranian schoolchildren staring out from newspaper pages held aloft, protesters gathered outside the Israeli and United States embassies in Seoul on March 12 to condemn ongoing military operations and mourn the young victims of last month's strike on an elementary school in southern Iran.

Protests in Seoul feature faces of slain Iranian schoolchildren

Demonstrators carried flowers and portraits of the slain students through central Seoul as police established barricades along the route.

The protest culminated in an evening candlelight vigil where participants placed tributes beside images representing the children killed in the February 28 attack on Minab's Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls' School.

A prominent feature of the demonstration was the display of the March 9 front page of the Tehran Times that published photographs of young victims beneath the headline "Trump, Look Them in the Eyes."

Protests in Seoul feature faces of slain Iranian schoolchildren

Iran's Minister of Education, Alireza Kazemi, has stated that during the attacks by America and Israel, over 206 students and teachers have been killed, over 161 students and educators have been injured, and 120 schools have been destroyed.

The total number of deaths in Iran has surpassed 1,200. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani has said that 216 women and 198 children under 18 have been identified among the martyrs, including an eight-month-old baby girl.

The protest followed a March 1 press conference by the Korean Civil Coalition, led by the Self-Reliant Solidarity Union for Peace and Korean Reunification, which issued a joint statement condemning U.S. and Israeli actions that "endanger the lives of people in Iran and across the Middle East."

The Minab school was struck on a Saturday morning, the first day of the Iranian school week, when more than 250 students had just settled into their classrooms.

A Pentagon investigation, reported by the New York Times, has confirmed that the strike was an American one.

source: tehrantimes.com