Dhe nationwide protests in Iran have expanded in recent days. The BBC’s Persian-language service estimates that the number of demonstrators in the anti-government protests that began on September 16 in Tehran and other cities has continued to grow.
Unlike in the weeks before, the demonstrators no longer just take to the streets under cover of darkness, but during the day. There are demonstrations in Tehran and Isfahan again this Sunday. What is also new is that they encounter riot police and other security forces less frequently.
Most of the videos circulating on social media come from the capital Tehran, where there are said to have been at least six large rallies with marching demonstrators on Saturday. Demonstrators blocked city highways and other major roads in Tehran. Above all, they chanted the most important slogan of the protests that have been going on for more than two weeks: “Woman, life, freedom”. Most women don’t wear headscarves.
Minors in the ranks of the militia
Two short videos show security forces using tear gas against the demonstrators in central Tehran. In another, protesters prevent riot police from entering “Islamic Republic Street.” Numerous videos of protests were recorded near subway stations. Partly you can hear: “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, we are together.”
Other large protests were reported on Saturday, mainly from the cities of Isfahan, Shiraz, Rasht and Babol. More is becoming known about the protests because the authorities have relaxed the sometimes massive restrictions on the Internet. This is taken as an admission that protests have continued despite the slowdown and blocking of the internet. In addition, the measure harmed the economy.
On Saturday, the first day of the week in Iran, protests at the universities also increased. There were apparently sit-ins at more than a hundred universities, and at some there were also protest marches. Students were one of the driving forces of the 1979 revolution, but so far they have been rather passive, fearing losing their places at university. After all, anyone who behaved critical of the government in the Islamic Republic was usually expelled. That fear seems to have gone now. Protest marches at universities were reported again on Sunday.
The first strikes are now also being reported from schools. It is not excluded that teachers could join the students. Because teachers are among the professions that have most often struck in the past with demands for salary increases. For the first time, pictures from schools have also appeared in which girls are tearing down Khamenei’s portrait photo.
News that the volunteer militia of the Revolutionary Guards, the Bassisj, is now apparently also using children in militia uniforms to suppress the protests is fueling the protests. Videos have been circulating since Thursday that are said to show minors in the ranks of the militia.
Hackers identify vice cops
On Thursday, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi accused the protesters, whom he called “rioters,” of destroying more than 70 ambulances. Several hundred doctors responded to this on Saturday with a petition in which they called for ambulances to be used exclusively for medical treatment and to ensure the neutrality of medical staff. During the most recent protests, the security forces also used ambulances to move troops and transport prisoners.
Meanwhile, an Iranian hacking group has identified the four moral police officers who arrested and allegedly abused Mahsa Amini on September 13 and forwarded it to the Persian-language satellite broadcaster Iran International in London.
Global solidarity rallies supported the demonstrators in Iran over the weekend. According to the BBC, rallies were held in more than 150 cities around the world. More than 50,000 people attended the largest in Toronto. Niagara Falls was illuminated with the three colors of the Iranian national flag in honor of Mahsa Amini, whose death sparked the protests.
Iran awaits release of funds
In Iran, it is puzzling that the 83-year-old revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is still not appearing in public and has not commented on the protests. A condolence letter was read on his behalf for a largely unknown Bazaari on Saturday. In his only public appearance since the protests began on September 21, Khamenei, who was apparently in poor health, said: “When you are in the middle of the events, you cannot see what is happening.” He said nothing more about the protests.
Iran now expects to release $7 billion in frozen assets as part of a prisoner swap with the United States. The state media reported on Sunday that with the departure of the previously detained American Baqer Namazi on Saturday and the release of his son Siamak from Evin prison, the United States would have to release the Iranian assets frozen in South Korea.
The 83-year-old Baqer Namazi, who worked for Unicef, and his son Siamak, who is also an American citizen, were each sentenced to ten years in prison in 2016 for alleged espionage.
