Really / EPA
Protests against economic difficulties spread across the country. There is no leadership in the demonstrations that challenge the regime.
Os protests no Iran, triggered by economic difficulties, have now spread across all over the countryactivists said today, stressing that the demonstrations are challenge o theocratic power despite having no leadership.
So far, the violence surrounding the demonstrations has killed at least 38 people and more than 2,200 were detained, said the United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
“The lack of a viable alternative [de liderança] undermined previous protests in Iran,” said Nate Swanson of the Washington-based Atlantic Council, an organization that studies Iran.
“There are a thousand Iranian dissident activists who, given the opportunity, could become respected statesmen, as labor leader Lech Walesa did in Poland at the end of the Cold War. But so far, the Iranian security apparatus has arrested, persecuted and exiled every potential transformative leader in the country,” said Swanson.
The growth of protests increases the pressure about the civilian government of Iran and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. So far, authorities have not blocked the internet or deployed large-scale security forces on the streets, as they did to suppress the 2022 protests over the death of young Mahsa Amini.
On Wednesday, which was the most intense day demonstrations, the protests reached rural cities and large urban centers in all provinces, although they still remain very localized.
At least 37 protests took place across the countrysaid activists, including in Shiraz.
Videos circulating online showed what appears to be a riot truck using a water cannon against protesters.
The state news agency IRNA, which has remained largely silent on the demonstrations, reported a mass demonstration in Bojnourd, as well as demonstrations in Kerman and Kermanshah.
Iranian authorities do not recognize the scale of the protests. However, there were reports of security officers injured or killed.
The demonstrations continue today, with traders closing their stores in the province of Iranian Kurdistan.
The demonstrations, so far, seem to be no leadershipas have other waves of protests in Iran in recent years. However, the exiled crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah, called on the Iranian people to demonstrate, even through the windows and roofs of their homes, today and Friday from 8:00 pm (4:30 pm in Lisbon).
“Wherever you are, whether on the streets or even in your own homes, I call on you to start singing at exactly this time,” Pahlavi said in an internet video that was also shared by Iranian satellite news channels abroad.
“Based on the response to this call, I will announce the next calls to action,” said Pahlavi.
People’s participation will be a sign of possible support for Pahlavi, whose support for Israel and Israel has been criticized in the past — particularly after the 12-day war Israel waged against Iran in June.
People have come out in support of the Shah at some protests, but it is unclear whether this represents support for Pahlavi or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Meanwhile, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi continues detained by authorities since December.
Iran has faced a series of protests across the country in recent years.
With the tightening of sanctions and the difficulties faced by Iran after a 12-day war with Israel in June, its currency, the rial, plummeted in December.
Protests began shortly after, with people demonstrating against the Iranian theocracy.
