Raging Grannies take part in rally to defend Iran held at the University of Lethbridge

The Lethbridge chapter of the Raging Grannies joined a rally Friday to demonstrate against military action in Iran and the Middle East.

Calgary — The University of Lethbridge gained support from an older organization that makes their messages clear even if you're hard of hearing.

The Lethbridge chapter of the 'Raging Grannies' brought their songs and their canes to the "No War on Iran" rally at the U of L Friday.

Raging Granny Barb Philips says her generation lived through wars and so did her family and friends, including her father, who even fought in World War I.

"Wars escalate very quickly and what we saw happening in the last couple of weeks in Iraq with the Iranians and what happened with President Trump," she said. "Things like that are what will escalate very rapidly and we’ll all get pulled into it and we don’t want to go there.”

Phillips says she heard about the rally and asked if the 'Raging Grannies' could make an appearance.

Sorcha Deheer, a reporter with the U of L newspaper The Meliorist, says the peaceful protest is about calling out governments who have been involved with violence, not the people who live under them.

“We decided that we wanted to say something, we wanted to make sure it was heard a little bit," she said. "We are working on a petition that will be circulated online that hopefully will go to the federal government.

"We wanted to get the organizations involved to (kind of) lend a bit of legitimacy in weight, you know more than just a couple of students.”

Deheer explains the U of L is a global community itself and has people from all over the world. She says there might even be people who may have been directly affected by the events that are happening in Iran, in the U.S. or who have family members in either of those countries.

The next rally is scheduled for Saturday, January 25th, 2020, at City Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.