This post was updated Jan. 15 at 9:57 p.m.

About 80 demonstrators marched across campus Wednesday to call for regime change and freedom in Iran.

The rally, which began at around 12:20 p.m. in Bruin Plaza, was held by the Iranian Student Group at UCLA. Some protesters held signs reading “All eyes on Iran” and “End theocracy, bring democracy.”

Protesters marched to Janss steps at around 12:30 p.m., chanting “Free, free, free Iran” and “One solution, revolution.” The group then walked down Dickson Plaza before circling the inverted fountain at around 12:40 p.m, with some demonstrators waving the Lion and Sun flag, a symbol of Iran’s pre-revolution government.

Hundreds of protests have taken place across Iran since late December, with citizens calling for regime change amid an economic crisis, according to the Associated Press. Iran’s incumbent government – the Islamic Republic – has cracked down on the protests, killing more than 2,500 people as of early Wednesday, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

The Islamic Republic also shut down internet access and international phone calls in the country starting Jan. 8. President Donald Trump said Jan. 2 that the U.S. would attack Iran if its government killed peaceful protesters, according to the New York Times.

Dorsa Khoddami, a fourth-year human biology and society student, said she participated in the protest to stand with her community, both in Iran and Los Angeles. The ongoing internet blackout in Iran has left her unable to communicate with her grandparents, cousins, aunts or uncles, she added.

“In Iran, they’ve been oppressed for many, many years, and we’re hoping this is the time that we can advocate for them, even though they have no access to the internet,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to promote their safety and their freedom.”

A U-Haul truck drove into a group of people protesting for regime change in Iran outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood Sunday. At least two people were injured, authorities said.

[Related: U-Haul drives into Westwood protest for regime change in Iran]

Khoddami, who serves as the director of outreach for the ISG at UCLA, added that she hopes for a future of robust women’s rights in Iran, where women can currently face prison sentences for not wearing hijabs.

Several UCPD officers and security guards gathered by the Bruin Bear before the rally began, with some security guards following behind the group on bicycles. Protesters also chanted “America for Iran, everyone for Iran” while marching from Dickson Court South to Wilson Plaza at about 1:00 p.m.

Kimia Kamal, a graduate student in behavioral neuroscience, said she disagrees with President Donald Trump’s domestic policies, but hopes he takes action to help her people in Iran.

Kian Gholibeik, a fourth-year public affairs and global studies student pursuing an Iranian studies minor, said the protest helped him feel connected with the people of Iran, despite being physically far from the country.

“(The Islamic Republic of Iran government) is a dictatorship that has committed mass killings, mass imprisonments, religious persecution, political persecution and overall mismanagement of Iran for 47 years and has destroyed our country effectively,” Gholibeik said. “We are here in solidarity with all the hundreds of thousands of Iranians in the country who are actively fighting for a better future for themselves.”

Demonstrators gathered on the McClure Stage in Bruin Plaza at about 1:05 p.m., where ISG members displayed a large Iranian flag and people listened to concluding remarks in English and Farsi.

Roxana Mousavi, a second-year psychobiology student who participated in the protest, said she is afraid for the safety of her family members who live in Iran amid the country’s internet blackout.

Mousavi, who grew up in Southern California and has never been able to go to Iran, added that seeing other UCLA students marching with her made her feel supported.

“The majority of Iran wants a change, and the majority of us here as well want a change, and it’s good to see that we’re not alone in it,” Mousavi said.

The group dispersed at around 1:10 p.m. after a speaker encouraged attendees to join future protests in LA that called for freedom in Iran.

“My people are in the streets with sticks and stones with bare hands, and the government has firearms and the military is killing its own people,” Kamal said. “What I hope for the world to do is to stand up for my people, because their hands are bare.”