Hundreds of people protested in the U.S. capital to demand "regime change now" in Iran and denouncing what one called Tehran’s "atrocity toward the people."
Protesters in Washington on March 8 chanted and waved Iranian flags, with some holding portraits of Maryam Rajavi, president of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, a group that is banned in Iran.
"The regime inside Iran is doing so much atrocity toward the people. Iran in whole has been destroyed by this regime," said Michael Passi, an Iranian-American engineer participating in the protest.
"There are a lot of executions, a lot of torture, and a lot of exporting of terrorism by this regime," he said, according to the AFP news agency.
AFP quoted Mina Entezari, an activist who was a political prisoner in Iran for seven years, as saying, “We want separation of religion and the state."
“We want freedom for people," added Entezari.
The administration of President Donald Trump has taken a hard line against Tehran, accusing it of financing terrorism in the Middle East and of attempting to obtain nuclear weapons in violation of UN resolutions.
Iran denies the charges.