It may not be front page news in the Dutch papers, but the Netherlands’ Persian community continues to come out in support of Iranians back home.

Hundreds of Iranians marched from Amsterdam’s Dam Square to the US consulate on the Museumplein on Saturday to show support for their compatriots in Iran who have been silenced by a brutal government crackdown that is said to have killed tens of thousands of people.

“The Persian community in the Netherlands feels responsible to be the voice of the people in their country,” says Pejman Akbarzadeh, director of the Persian Dutch Network, who attended the weekend rally. There were also protests in The Hague.

“Our people are so alone in their movement,” says Akbarzadeh, who points out that in the past, when Iran’s marches came to a halt, demonstrations abroad also stopped.

“This time, however, it is something totally different,” he says. “The Persian community is not leaving the streets of Europe and North America. The mass killings in January have deeply shaken them. We want to keep the public informed.”

The protesters are also calling for regime change and democracy. Chants of “Go, go, the mullahs must go” and “Trump act now!” could be heard on Dam Square, as Saturday’s protest took place.

Although Iranian hardliners put the death toll at some 3,000 people last month, Time magazine says “as many as 30,000 people could have been killed in the streets of Iran on Jan. 8 and 9 alone.”

Many Iranians in the Netherlands also dismiss the official figures. “Some 7,000 to 8,000 people were killed in my city alone,” says an Iranian Amsterdamer who only wants to give his name as Babak.

“It’s terrible what happened there and so unfair—shooting people, and so many of them young, 13, 14, 15 years old. It’s so unfair, and we’re angry. They are savages.”

All Iranians outside the country can do, he says, is support those back home and not let the world forget what is happening. Babak points to popular social media posts under the title: “Don’t stop talking about Iran,” one place he looks to for information in addition to the BBC’s Persian service and Voice of America.

Regime change

Many Iranians in the Netherlands, which is home to one of Europe’s largest Persian communities, are disappointed, angry and frustrated at the lack of international action to topple Iran’s Islamic Republic.

A recent 5-year-long survey by Gamaan, a Dutch non-profit that measures public opinion in Iran, found that some 80% of Iranians also support regime change.

“It’s a very consistent finding,” says Gamaan director and Tilburg University political science professor Ammar Maleki, “meaning we expect to see more protests in the future.”

Maleki has had to devise a way to get fearful Iranians to answer his surveys. He uses VPNs – many supplied for free by the US – to get people to give their opinions. “We need to measure public opinion anonymously,” he says. “But you can’t have good policy without this information.”

While many protesters here are pinning their hopes on US president Donald Trump, they say they are angry after he encouraged protesters in Iran to continue taking to the streets, saying “help is on its way.”

But that help hasn’t come, and Trump’s negotiating with the regime over its nuclear programmes has left a bitter taste in their mouths.

Trump did nothing

“Trump said he’d react if they killed protesters, and that gave people hope,” says Akbarzadeh. “But Trump didn’t do anything, and many Iranians feel betrayed, although they still hope.”

Although a month-long internet blackout left many Iranians both at home and in the diaspora in the dark, satellite-streamed images of protests abroad have given people hope, says Maleki.

His survey has also found increased support for Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, over the past three years. While some of the weekend protestors called for the “return of the king,” support is mixed.

“He’s a symbol,” says Babek. “I’m not sure he’s good for the country, but he’s 100% better than who they have now.”

The exiled Iranian crown prince is expected to appear in Munich later this month for a February 14 protest he dubbed a global day of action and solidarity with the Iranian people.