Persians parade in Manhattan

down the canyon of Madison Avenue in Manhattan Sunday as thousands of Persians turned out to shout and show their Persianness.  Participants were mostly from the New York metropolitan area, but some folks came in for the festivities from as far away as London and Cali-fornia.  The parade wasn’t comprised of just Iranian-Amer-icans.  As seen here, the New York police band also marched with the Iranian-Americans.  The parade wended its way southward for 12 blocks along Madison Avenue, ending up at Madison Square Park, where many continued celebrating for hours.  Ferri Mir, a realtor from New Jersey, commented to the daily Newsday about the many Zoroastrian symbols and references in the parade each year, saying that Iranian immigrants to the United States often felt a stronger link to Zoroastrian culture as representative of Iranian culture.  Faridoon Fasiser of Long Island said, “It’s a sign of resistance against the Islamic regime we have now.”