NEW YORK - Young girl Neda Agha-Soltan, who became the central rallying cry of the Iranian protests, predicted her violent death by gunfire, but was determined to take part in protests that followed the disputed presidential election.

As the violence continues to escalate on the streets of Iran, the beautiful philosophy student who had been engaged to be married, is now being hailed as the country’s Joan of Arc.

On Saturday, the day she was killed, her friend told The Los Angeles Times that she had tried to persuade Neda to stay away from the massive march.

“I told her, ‘Neda, don’t go,’” the friend, who gave her name only as Golshad, told the paper. But Neda was adamant.

“She said, ‘Don’t worry. It’s just one bullet and it’s over,’” recalled Hamid Panihi, the music teacher and friend who was with her when she died.

The government yesterday blocked a wake for her in a central Tehran mosque for fear that the outpouring of grief would lead to more anti-regime protests, her fianci, Caspian Makan, told the BBC.

“The authorities are aware that everybody in Iran and throughout the whole world knows about her story. They were afraid that lots of people could turn up,” The New York Post quoted Makan, as saying.

Neda was shot at a protest in Tehran, and her shocking and quick death in the arms of her howling father was captured on close up video, now widely circulated on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

The fresh-faced teenage girl killed by what appears to be a single sniper shot on the streets of Tehran Saturday is now a potent symbol for Iran’s pro-democracy protesters.

It captures Neda, shot in the heart, in her last moments of life, bleeding to death on the street as a friend wails, “Don’t be afraid! Neda, dear!”

Since the video made shock waves across the Web, her photo has been held aloft at demonstrations all over the globe. But to her relatives, she is more than just an icon of change. (ANI)