Many cities across Iran saw chaotic scenes on Tuesday and Wednesday, the first two of three days of protests and strikes held online to mark the November 2019 protests, when hundreds were killed amid an internet blackout. The deadliest incident occurred on Wednesday night in Izeh in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, where at least seven people were killed in an incident that some netizens blamed on the state and authorities blamed unknown assailants. Iranian authorities said two “terrorists” on a motorcycle opened fire on a crowd using a rifle, killing seven people – including two boys aged nine and 13 – and wounding nine, two of them critically. Ali Deghani, head of Khuzestan’s judiciary, said three people had been arrested for being behind what he described as “riots” in Izeh. At least six more people were killed in the central province of Isfahan. Three protesters were among the dead, and authorities said two members of the Basij paramilitary force were killed when assailants on motorcycles opened fire on them and fled the scene. A third security officer also died. A member of the Basij and seven policemen were also injured as a result of the shooting. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, at least three protesters were killed in demonstrations that broke out on Tuesday in three different cities, according to human rights groups based abroad. State media reported that three members of the security forces were also killed during Tuesday’s events. Videos released online on Tuesday and Wednesday showed protests and strikes in dozens of cities across Iran, including Gorgan, Tabriz, Arak, Sanandaj, Mashhad, Kerman, Shiraz and Bandar Abbas. In the capital, Tehran, videos appeared to show protests in several neighborhoods, including Shahrak-e Gharb in the western part of the metropolis. Protesters blocked the streets around Sanat Square on Tuesday afternoon, chanting “freedom, freedom” and anti-establishment slogans. Several videos showed chaos in metro stations in Tehran, with security forces firing and people falling and being trampled as they tried to run in panic. Another video, which Al Jazeera was unable to verify, shows police entering train carriages and beating passengers with batons. Videos of closed shops are circulating on social media from several cities. Many private businesses, including cafes and galleries, had announced the closures from Tuesday to Thursday on their social media accounts, without publicly citing the strikes as the reason. However, state media questioned the strikes and their scope, regularly publishing videos from major markets showing people shopping. They also claimed that organized gangs tried to force shops to close in some places, including the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, which the capital’s police chief visited on Thursday to ensure calm. At least five people have been sentenced to death in cases linked to the protests, according to Iranian justice. Hundreds have been killed during the protests, according to human rights groups based abroad, but Iranian authorities have not released official tolls. The protests began shortly after the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not following the country’s dress code for women, in custody.
“All the devils are assembled”
State media on Thursday published a previously unpublished speech allegedly given by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month, in which he did not directly mention the protests but praised members of the security forces who had “martyred.” “A security martyr sacrifices his life for the safety and tranquility of the people, and all these sacrifices are a manifestation of all the moral values found in martyrdom and martyrdom,” he was quoted as saying. The supreme leader, along with other top officials, has repeatedly accused Iran’s adversaries, particularly the United States, of orchestrating the protests in an effort to break up Iran. In a speech on Thursday, Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), repeated that claim, saying the US, Israel, the UK, France, Germany and Saudi Arabia “they came to wage war against God and the martyrs.” “All the devils of the world have gathered” against Iran in a “major conspiracy,” he told an audience in Kom.
Sanctions, UN resolutions
The US, European Union, UK and Canada have imposed human rights sanctions on Iranian officials and entities over their response to the protests, with Tehran responding with sanctions of its own. The latest came on Wednesday when the US blacklisted six senior officials of Iranian state television channels, accusing them of broadcasting forced confessions and acting as “a key tool in the Iranian government’s massive campaign of repression and censorship against its people”. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron last week repeatedly referred to the protests as a “revolution” and German leaders have denounced Iranian officials while supporting the protests. Germany and Iceland have also requested a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the protests, which is scheduled to take place next week. On Wednesday, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution criticizing Iran for its response to the protests, which Iran’s foreign ministry has condemned as an example of “Iranophobia.” In a separate case of continued tensions between Iran and the West, the US and the E3 also presented a draft resolution criticizing Iran for insufficient cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which could be passed this week.
