Manchester Students Mourn Ayatollah
Students in Manchester have attended a candlelight vigil to mourn the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with one handwritten sign reading: “You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an ideology.” The Telegraph has more.
On Wednesday night, up to 100 people gathered for a memorial to the Iranian Supreme Leader, who was killed in an attack launched by Israel and the US last weekend.
Ahlul-Bayt Islamic societies (AbSocs) across Britain – student-led groups affiliated with the dominant Shia sect of Islam in Iran – have paid tribute to Khamenei.
Members of the AbSoc at the University of Manchester advertised the vigil in Sidney Street, five minutes from the university campus, as an event “honouring the Ayatollah”.
One handwritten sign at the vigil read: “You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an ideology.”
Another sign, propped up on a table that was shrouded in a black cloth with a photograph of Khamenei, read: “My enemies have the support of each other to kill me, O Heart warming love… I have only your support, loyal to Ayatollah Khamenei.”
A poster for the vigil said it was supported by the Friends of Islamic Centre of Manchester.
It came amid mounting concerns about the spread of Islamism on university campuses, particularly in the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel.
A report published at the end of 2024 found that antisemitic abuse in British universities had reached record levels in the wake of the conflict.
On Friday, the University of Manchester’s AbSoc plans to hold a “commemorative” gathering to “remember the martyrs of the recent strikes”.
An Instagram story shared by the society said a pre-planned event, organised with a youth organisation at Alfurqan Islamic Centre in Manchester, had been changed to a memorial event “due to the current circumstances”.
The update said: “We will remember the martyrs of the recent strikes, and a majalis for Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib will also take place. Community members are kindly requested to bring a simple dish for iftar, as it will still be opened before the Majalis.”
Attendees at the Khamenei vigil were significantly outnumbered by 300 to 400 counter-protesters who gathered to celebrate his death and demonstrate in support of the freedom of the Iranian people.
The counter-protest included dancing and singing to tracks including the Village People’s YMCA, the disco classic that has enjoyed a new wave of popularity after Donald Trump danced to it.
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Iran is a sophisticated country. Don’t believe all the lies and propaganda from the US, it’s poodles and a compliant main stream media who all want “regime change” and a new US friendly government in Iran so they can plunder its oil and harm supplies to China.
This is the real Iran where bare headed women use public transport, and the scene could be anywhere in Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOFHCyfrJ9M
“Congratulations to the US for killing Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and a steadfast opponent of Iran developing nuclear weapons.
Doubtless Iran’s new leader will learn from Khamenei’s mistake and expedite an Iranian nuclear bomb as quickly as possible”.
Jonathan Cook, journalist.
All those Plastic Persians in the counter-demonstration who lost their wealth and power after the revolution of 1979 have an axe to grind.
They will do and say anything to change Iran back to the corrupt state it was so they can return and use their wealth, power and influence to further their own ends.
They will never be welcome back in Iran.
They might not be, but then it depends what actually happens to Iran, whether it will remain a single nation, or split into different smaller ones, e.g. If it does go down the Balkanisation route, there could be a small, relatively rich, faction that might welcome them back.
The US and their masters in Israel would love to Balkanise Iran.
It has always been their aim since 1979.
Did you mourn the death of Osama Bin Laden? This Ayatollah has murdered nearly 40,000 innocent protestors, and oversees a regime that is the world’s most prolific exporter of terrorism, and somehow commands your respect?! Don’t forget that the Iranians themselves want the regime change that you disparagingly put within quotation marks.
Your government and their presstitutes in the main stream media will be pleased you have believed all their lies, propaganda and omissions of the truth.
They lie to you about climate change, Covid, vaccines, WMD, and everything else which goes against their agenda.
Try to be more “sceptical” in future.
You’re wasting your time on here when it comes to Israel/US Neocons.
Most on here have a blind spot when it comes to Israel, morality goes out of the window.
Anyone with even a scintilla of scepticism would know that the US government is made up of AIPAC puppets – which means that they have to do what Israel wants.
Israel has been planning this “war” for years and the US dances to its tune.
Trump has to do the same – whether he likes it or not.
I know, but I like to give the Zionists on here a reality check that there is a totally different line of thought from a very many esteemed geopolitical analysts.
I agree with you 100%. They lie to prop up their latest narrative-du-jour with respect to all those topics, and including the latest proclamations of the IRGC, via Iran’s state-controlled media channels with their currently-exclusive internet access, which then get parroted verbatim by the BBC and the Guardian and all the rest. I am fully sceptical of any of these narratives. They are all “prestitutes in the mainstream media” as you rightly call them.
I don’t think, however, there is any shred of a doubt that Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, is an evil murderous tyrant whose death the whole world should be currently celebrating.
It is BrainHalfFull.
That’s not strictly true unless you are either a very rich Iranian or part of the elite there.
you may well be right about the west’s intentions but for ordinary people, same as us, the religious police can do what they like.
Hoe do I know? Well, I have family working in the Middle East and get my info via them, not you tube or the msm.
“This post is for everyone trying to use the mantra of saving Muslim women, the tired bullshit the West has used to actually destroy the lives of Muslim women for decades. Here are some statistics specific to Iran. LITERACY AMONG WOMEN. Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the literacy rate for women under the western-backed Shah was 42%. In less than a decade of the revolution, that number climbed to 98% STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) GRADUATES. In Iran, ~70% of STEM graduates are women—far exceeding U.S. levels, which stand at 53%) PROFESSIONAL DOCTORATE. About 58% of students in Iranian professional doctorate programs are women. In contrast, that number in the U.S. is 56%. FEMICIDE (homicide of females). In Iran, the rate of intentional murder of women is 0.59 per 100,000. In the US, that number nearly 4 times higher, at 2.1 per 100,000 women (with stark racial disparities: Black & Native American women: 4.3–4.8 per 100k vs White women: ~1.5 per 100k PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMENT. In Iran, women hold 27% of ministerial-level posts, ~1,121 female judges, and ~25% of managerial roles in government (these values are from the early 2000s, and are surely much higher now).… Read more »
One fundamental problem for them is they refuse to embrace capitalism at its finest, ie homage to the Banks ie Rothschilds. Aka they’d rather print and lend their own money
Germany 1930’s, Vietnam, N. Korea, Libya, Iran, Russia, Syria, Cuba, Belarus, Venezuala and now BRICS.
I wonder what fate befell/befalls them.
I think the truth as always lies somewhere in the middle.
They are definitely not the land of plenty you eulogise about, I know that much from my own sources.
as for being an Islamic country, well if what goes on with Islam in this country, no thanks.
I’m quite sure the west is not blameless in the Middle East; but I don’t think every Jew is the devil either.
i also think that the people who really run things are way above local distinctions like race and religion and I’m sure you will find Muslims getting on very well with Jews at that level.
its only the majority that have to see their reality in those terms.
Your observations are the complete opposite of every Iranian I know, many who lived in Iran for decades after the revolution
What next? Commemorative vigils for Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao? These folk are beyond redemption.
Name and shame.
I realise it might help some get certain jobs.
Starmer has just announced he will do everything he can to uphold British values. So he’ll be shutting these demonstrations down then, no?
Turning up in his native dress as per today’s post on Turbulent Times.
That is AI, right?
I’m trying to imagine a student vigil in Tehran to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks….
You may be surprised-
They actually did,- candelight vigils, moments of silenceand condemnation of the attack from their leaders.
The USA could have had a wave of sympathy throughout the world, but chose a different path, sadly their usual one.
What would you suggest the USA should have done in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks?
Stop funding universities who support things like this.
If any of the attendees are Iranian and have claimed asylum, they should have it withdrawn
Or —“You can kill a man who murders 40,000 of his own people but silly students will still think you are a saint who’s death should be mourned”
Because those 40,000 were all infidels. GameScore-40,000..!! It’s quite unbelievable.
wink