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Outside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, where Iran will face New Zealand on 15 June, those tensions are on full display.<\/p>\n
Opponents of the government in Tehran have gathered waving the Lion and Sun flag. It was Iran’s flag from before the 1979 Islamic revolution, and for many here, a symbol of resistance to the current regime.<\/p>\n
From a distance, they look like Iranian flags.<\/p>\n
But a closer look reveals the symbol at the heart of the dispute.<\/p>\n
For protesters here, the Lion and Sun represents Iran.<\/p>\n
“It is a stance against the Islamic Republic. This is the real flag of Iran,” says Arezo Rashidian, one of the protest organisers.<\/p>\n
The emblem on the national team’s jerseys, they argue, represents a government they want gone. That post-revolution flag has the same green, white and red stripes but also features the Islamic emblem of four crescents and a sword in red. The Arabic inscription ‘Allahu Akbar’ which translates to ‘Allah is the greatest’ and Muslims recite during prayer, is also featured on the flag.<\/p>\n
Many of those gathered outside SoFi Stadium accuse the Islamic Republic of using sport to project legitimacy abroad while repressing dissent at home.<\/p>\n
“Regime change is the goal. We’re here to show solidarity with the people of Iran,” says Ms Rashidian. <\/p>\n
She says they are against “the mass killings of individuals protesting freely,” referring to the anti-government protests in January and February and the widespread crackdown by the regime forces which resulted in thousands of deaths.<\/p>\n
At the time, state officials acknowledged several thousand casualties, while activist groups and medical sources documented mass shootings, overwhelmed hospitals, and leaked mortuary records indicating the true scale of the violence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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