FARMINGTON HILLS -- Iranian Americans in metro Detroit find it difficult to watch what is happening in their home country in the wake of the Iran’s presidential election.

Allegations of election fraud erupted in Iran following the announcement that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defeated pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. As many as eight people have died in the protests since the election. Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Tehran Thursday to mourn demonstrators killed in clashes.

“When I look at it I feel I'm not able to forget it, so I keep searching the Internet, watching CNN, watching this, watching that, I'm following it," said Farrokh Nassirpour, who has family in Iran.

Hossein Rajaee, owner of Pars Restaurant in Farmington Hills, said he realizes what is happening in Iran now is very different than what happened during the 1979 Iranian revolution, but for him, his family and his customers, the uncertainly is the same.

"When you have family members back home, mom, brothers, sisters, you can't separate yourself from them. They don't like unrest and it's extremly difficult for them. For them, it’s difficult for them because it resembles the yesteryears,” said Rajaee.

Protests over the conflict in Iran have been going on in Michigan all week. In Lansing Thursday graduate students from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan along with their families rallied at the Michigan Capitol to protest the election results. Some protesters carried signs declaring "Where is my vote?" and "Fraud Election." A similar protest was held Tuesday in Ann Arbor with students from Wayne State University and the University of Toledo.