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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Raphael Boyd and Hayden Vernon

‘You weren’t free’: Iranians party in London and Manchester after strikes against regime

Iranians celebrating in a Manchester square after hearing of Ayatollah's Ali Khamenei's death. They are waving and opening a bottle of sparkling wine
St Peter’s Square, Manchester where Iranians gathered on Saturday after the ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, was reported dead. Photograph: Gary Roberts Photography/Shutterstock

On Saturday night, with bombs falling across the Middle East and rumours of the death of Ali Khamenei, the longtime ayatollah of Iran, spreading, the streets of north London resembled a party.

Thousands of revellers filled Finchley Road, a part of London often called Little Tehran because of the large Iranian community, waving flags, many with the lion and sun, the flag of the Iranian state before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

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