Dawson College students cut hair in solidarity with Iranian protesters

Students at Montreal's Dawson College cut their hair in solidarity with Iranian protesters Thursday as demonstrations continue in Canada around the world.

Hair cutting has become a symbolic gesture to mark the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month. Amini died in police after being accused by Iran's ‘morality police’ of wearing her hijab improperly.

"It's a small sacrifice," said event co-organizer Kiana Lalavi. "Hair for women is important and you’re sacrificing a piece of your hair to show solidarity and support. We want to send a message through this that it's not only people going to protest in the streets in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto -- it's every student in university and colleges. This is basic rights and freedoms. In Canada, we're a democratic country and if we support these rights here, we support them everywhere."

Protesters are calling on the federal government to put pressure on Iran to stop human rights violations.

"We are the same, we look like them, we want freedom and that’s all we're asking for," said one Iranian woman, who asked not to give her name out of fear of repercussions. "That’s basically what the spirit is. Because the government is so restrictive. I'm here on the other side of the world hiding with a mask and sunglasses, that's how scary they can be and how far they can go. They make Iranians who are 'safe' paranoid. That's what we're here for, for living a normal life, either living in Iran or outside."

Another Dawson student, Kiana, did not provide her last name out of the same safety concerns.

"I'm Persian, so this movement is really important to me. I have family there and just being able to support people who aren't able to talk freely, that are in Iran right now," she said. "We're their voices. We're the ones doing this for them. Them seeing us do this is really important because it means ‘Oh we can go on, we can continue fighting because people outside of Iran are also fighting with us and for us."