Tehran, Jan 2 (.) Turning at their deadliest, the massive anti-government protests in Iran reached their fifth consecutive day on Thursday, leading to the deaths of at least seven demonstrators, following a brutal crackdown by security forces.
The casualties come in wake of a surge in public protests, with rallies spreading to other cities like wildfire, including the Shia bastion city of Qom, where protesters called for the end of the current theocratic state, and thus the end of the Islamic Republic’s very existence, demanding the restoration of monarchy.
The unrest has taken on a distinctly anti-government tone, with protesters in Bandar Abbas chanting “Death to the entire system” and “Long live the Shah (King)”, while pro-monarchy graffiti and slogans appeared in Esfahan and Sistan and Baluchestan.
Demonstrations were reported across dozens of locations, ranging from Tehran and Isfahan to Lorestan, Mazandaran, Khuzestan, Hamadan, and Fars. Protesters chanted slogans directly targeting the regime and its ruler, supreme leader Ali Khamenei, making this the largest pro-monarchy demonstration in the past five decades. Slogans such as “Death to the Dictator” and “Long Live the Shah” dominated the streets.
Security personnel have used little restraint in curbing the protests, using tear gas, tasers, and unleashing a tide of baton charges, and even opening live fire in several cities, including Nurabad in Lorestan and Hamadan in western Iran. Videos have surfaced showcasing officers actively gunning down demonstrators who remained in the streets despite the crackdown.
Recent reports said evening and nighttime demonstrations in multiple cities including Bandar Abbas, Azna, Hamedan, Qom, Qazvin and Babol, reports Iran International.
In the country’s southeast region which is grappling with heavy unrest, a group of Baluch prisoners urged residents from Sistan and Baluchestan to join the ongoing “wave of freedom” nationwide, and support demonstrations across the country.
The residents further noted that Sistan was also one of epicentres of the deadly 2022 Mahsa Amin protests, triggered by the death of activist Mahsa Amin during her detention by the Morality Police, due to not wearing her hijab properly, and resistant; which led to massive protests and brutal crackdowns.
Spectators at a football match in Esfahan were also filmed chanting “Reza Shah, may your soul rest in peace,” underscoring the prominence of pro monarchy slogans in this wave of protests.
The Paris-based Narges Foundation, run by the family of jailed Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi, issued a statement on her official X account declaring that “silence is not an option” as streets once again see live fire, tear gas, beatings and mass arrests.
Former senior lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, who once headed parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, warned in his own X post that “all the ideologies of the world are not worth the tears of one mother” and urged Iranians to ensure their hands “do not get stained with the blood of even one Iranian.”
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