Local Iranians protest at election 'coup'

Members of Auckland's Iranian community fear for their homeland's future. Photo / Richard Robinson

Anger over Iran's election result reached the streets of Auckland yesterday as supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi protested on Queen St.

More than 150 members of the city's Iranian community unfurled an Iranian flag and mimicked placards seen in Tehran such as "Where is my vote?".

"It feels like a coup" said Iranian immigrant Jafar Davari. "The media and polls told us Mousavi would get maybe 60 per cent of the vote. To not even get 50, well, it looks like fraud."

He said all the protesters had cast their international vote for Mousavi, and were worried about the future of their country under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"We feel for our families. No one expected this. We wanted to express our concern today."