‘We want peace’: Dozens gather in uptown Charlotte to protest Iran strikes
About 50 people gathered in Romare Bearden Park in uptown Charlotte on Saturday afternoon as part of an “emergency protest” following the Israel-U.S. attack on Iran earlier that day.
The gathering was one of more than 80 protests organized nationwide in response to Saturday’s strikes, which Iranian state media reported injured more than 700 and killed at least 201, including Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The strikes mark the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has attacked the Islamic Republic during discussions over its nuclear program.
In North Carolina and nationwide, reaction to the attack quickly divided along party lines.
The protests, organized by a coalition of left-leaning organizations including the National Iranian American Council, ANSWER Coalition, Palestinian Youth Movement and Democratic Socialists of America, are in response to what organizers call “Trump’s unprovoked, illegal attack” on Iran.
“There has never been an instance where U.S. intervention in the Middle East has ever led to anything other than senseless war,” organizer Zach Thomas, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, told the Observer. “This particular war could potentially lead to another decades-long campaign like we saw in the 2000s.”
Between group chants of rally cries like “No threat, no bomb, no war with Iran” and “No justice, no peace, no war in the Middle East,” speakers condemned U.S. involvement in the bombings.
Attendee Jibril Hough of the Islamic Center of Charlotte said that as a veteran of the peace movement, he’s long spoken out against American participation in foreign conflict.
“Iran is a sovereign country. I don’t like Trump as many people don’t like him, but we don’t want someone bombing our country and taking over to change leadership,” Hough said.
With bullhorns and signs in tow, attendees marched through uptown as Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officers on bicycles followed along. A few onlookers joined in the group’s cadences. At the corner of South College Street, a street performer serenaded the protesters as they passed, echoing their cries.
“No war with Iran,” he crooned into a handheld microphone. “We want peace.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2026 at 6:44 PM.