This post was updated Feb. 1 at 9:59 p.m.

Thousands of people blocked off streets and protested in Westwood on Sunday for Iranian regime change.

Protesters – who chanted “we want freedom” and “Trump, act now” – blocked off parts of Westwood Boulevard between Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard starting at about 12:45 p.m. 

The Islamic Republic, Iran’s incumbent government, has killed more than 6,000 people since protests broke out in the country in December amid an economic crisis, according to the United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The Islamic Republic also shut down internet access and international phone calls in the country starting Jan. 8, according to BBC. 

President Donald Trump said Jan. 2 that the U.S. would attack Iran if its government killed protesters, according to the New York Times. Most protesters carried or wore lion and sun flags – which represent Iran’s pre-revolution government. Some held U.S. flags and signs reading “Make Iran great again” and “Down with the dictator.” 

[Related: Demonstrators rally on campus in support of regime change, freedom in Iran]

Photos of protesters killed by the Iranian government, attached to strings that hung between buildings on both sides of the street, hovered over the demonstrators’ heads as they chanted in the street.

Hassan Mohammadi, who attended the rally, said he recently learned that the Iranian government killed a childhood friend of his. He urged Trump to intervene in the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protesters.

“We are just hoping to get some help – from the U.S., from President Trump,” he said. “They (the Islamic Republic) have the media; they have the power; they have everything.”

Mohammadi added that he believes the protest’s turnout shows the unity of the Iranian community – inside and outside of Iran.

Persian restaurants and stores line the streets of Westwood Boulevard between Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard – an area sometimes referred to as “Tehrangeles.” More than 140,000 Iranians live in Los Angeles County, according to the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies’ Iranian Data Dashboard, making it the largest diaspora of Iranians outside of Iran.

Protesters also listened to people deliver speeches on a stage by the intersection of Westwood Boulevard and Ashton Avenue. One speaker said the Islamic Republic has “no legitimacy among Iranians,” adding that he believes the country will achieve freedom. 

People occupied store fronts on Wilkins Avenue, holding signs reading “Long live Iran” and “King Reza Pahlavi,” who is the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and publicly encouraged the protests in Iran. 

Thousands of people also protested for Iranian regime change outside the Wilshire Federal Building on Jan. 11. A U-Haul truck drove into the crowd at about 3:30 p.m. that day, but the LA County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the driver, instead sending the case back to the city attorney’s office, according to NBC4. 

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

Pani Gol, an attendee who lived in Iran for 24 years, said she attended the protest to be a voice for her mother and grandmother, who currently live in Iran. She added that she has received landline calls from her family members, but is unable to contact them back. 

Seeing Iranian community members protest in solidarity has been a source of hope for her, Gol added.  

“I just want the whole world to hear us and don’t just watch because a massacre is happening in our country,” Gol said. “We want others to also join us and be our voice.” 

Protesters began dispersing at 3 p.m. Shawn Raddjam, a participant in the protest, said he feels hopeful that the Islamic Republic will fall.

“We feel deep sadness for our fallen compatriots, but we also feel hopeful,” he said. “Victory has never been closer than it is now. We can taste it, and the most important thing right now is to just keep pushing.”