Iranian Anti-government Demonstrations
According to the Wall Street Journal: Anti-government demonstrations broke out for a third day across Iran on Saturday, extending some of the country’s most widespread street protests in nearly a decade, with protesters demanding an end to the Islamic Republic regime and the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Video shot from inside Iran and shared with The Wall Street Journal suggest large rallies at dozens of cities across the country. The protesters seen in those videos bypassed calls for reform and branded both the reformist and hard-line factions of the government as outdated and needing to be replaced. Working class and labor unions joined the middle class and student activists in dozens of cities and small towns from Tehran to Ahvaz and Qom, a key regime’s religious stronghold. In the videos shared with the Journal, protesters were seen chanting “Death to Khamenei,” and “We don’t want the Islamic Republic, we don’t want it” and “Reformist and hard-liners, you are both done.”The protests present a challenge for Iran’s leadership. The presence of working-class protesters that traditionally comprise the Islamic Republic’s power base makes it harder for Mr. Rouhani’s government to dismiss the uprising as opposition instigated by foreign powers.In the capital, at one point more than 100 people were seen gathered outside the gates of Tehran University and chanting slogans including, “Leave Gaza, leave Lebanon, my life for Iran,” a critique of spending on Iranian proxies abroad, and “Death to the dictator!” Video distributed on social media showed hundreds of young people at the university shouting slogans against Mr. Khamenei, as security forces stood by.A few hundred riot police were deployed on nearby roads and blocked access to the university’s main gates. Plainclothes police were seen arresting one man near the Tehran University protests Saturday, although it wasn’t clear if he had taken part in the demonstrations. Police attempted to disperse the crowd using loudspeakers.- more
Labels: anti-government, demonstrations, Iran, Iranians, mullahs
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