‘All are in the streets’: Iranians defiant as protests grow

Demonstrators chanted ‘death to the dictator’ as they marched in the Iranian capital Tehran – Copyright AFP Michal Cizek

AFP Bureaus

Tear gas burning his eyes, his voice hoarse from shouting anti-government slogans as cars honked around him, Majid joined crowds of Iranians taking to the streets in defiance of a crackdown on a swelling protest movement. 

He used a pseudonym for security reasons and like all those who spoke about the protests was reached by AFP journalists outside Iran.

Majid described how he rallied with hundreds of others in the streets of eastern Mashhad on Wednesday night, even as police tried to disperse the crowd that nonetheless kept reforming. 

“Police are targeting people with pellets, tear gas and shotguns,” Majid said.

“At first, people dispersed, but they gathered again,” rallying in the streets until the early hours of the morning. 

“We know that if we go out there, we might not survive, but we are going and we will go out there to have a better future,” he said. 

The demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over the rising cost of living and a currency nosedive have spread nationwide, their numbers — and death toll — growing.

Protesters filled the streets of the capital Tehran and other cities on Thursday night, despite a crackdown leaving dozens killed by security, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights. 

Local media and official statements have reported at least 21 people, including security forces, killed since the unrest began, according to an AFP tally.

Violent crackdowns accompanied the last mass protests to sweep Iran in 2022-2023 sparked by the custody death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women. 

– ‘Last fight’ –

Majid, a mobile shopkeeper in his thirties, said this time felt different.

“During these protests, even those people or those classes that had never felt the pressure before are now under pressure,” he said.

“You can see 50-year-old women, I saw someone who used to collect garbage on the streets chanting slogans along with shopkeepers. Young, old, men, women, all are in the streets.” 

This wave of protests has hit as the clerical authorities under the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are already battling an economic crisis after years of sanctions and recovering from the June war against Israel.

“This is going to be the last fight against the government,” Majid said, though he’s uncertain of what would take the Islamic republic’s place. 

“Right now, we just want to get rid of this bloody government because no matter who comes to rule, it won’t be as bloody as them.”

Another shop owner in Kermanshah in western Iran, which has seen intense protest activity, shuttered his store as part of a strike called in protest on Thursday.

The 43-year-old said he had taken part in every protest since 2009, when mass demonstrations flooded the streets after disputed elections. 

But this one felt different from previous movements, because “people’s economic situation is heading towards complete collapse and life is no longer as it once was”.

“No matter how hard we work, we cannot keep up with the inflation for which the regime is responsible,” he told AFP via messaging app, saying protesters wanted “radical change in Iran”. 

“Although I have a relatively good job, our lives have been severely affected this year by these economic conditions. We want a free and democratic Iran, and a free Kurdistan.” 

Another merchant in Saqqez in Kurdistan province said he expected “more intense and widespread waves of protests in the coming days in Kurdish cities”, echoing other Iranians.

– ‘We stay alive’ –

One Tehran resident said she and neighbours had been shouting slogans from their windows at night — something she did for months during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022. 

But, she said, now the “level of dissatisfaction is higher than ever”. 

And while President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for “restraint” and announced measures to try to address grievances, “the issue for us is the end of the regime, and nothing else is satisfactory”, she said. 

“Living and continuing our daily lives has been one of our major struggles for the past 47 years after revolution” that brought the Islamic republic to power, she said. 

“But we stay alive and fight until (we) get freedom.” 

Another Tehran resident, a mother of two, sent a message to a relative abroad saying she was safe but warning her connection was becoming unreliable, not long before the internet went dark across the country ahead of protests on Thursday night.

She said it was becoming difficult to get groceries after days of demonstrations as stores restricted opening hours and that bigger protests were looming.  

“Hoping for better days for all of us,” she said.

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