Iran protests trigger social media blackout
IRAN blocked access to social media websites yesterday after arresting more than 200 demonstrators in an attempt to quell the biggest anti-government protests in almost a decade.
Protesters were warned they will face the ‘iron fist’ and ‘ pay the price’ for demonstrating amid clashes which saw calls for Iran’s leader to resign.
Donald Trump fanned the flames by accusing Iran of ‘stealing’ money from the people and ‘squandering’ it on terrorism.
Yesterday protests entered a fourth day with police in Tehran using water cannon on protesters in the city centre. The demonstrations, which have seen tens of thousands take to the streets, began as a response to economic hardship and rising prices but soon turned more political.
The social media blackout came after officials claimed apps such as Instagram and private messaging platform Telegram were being used to fuel the uprising. Telegram is estimated to be used by more than half of the country’s 80 million population.
Telecoms minister Mohammad- Javad Azari Jahromi accused Telegram users of being ‘counter-revolutionary’, claiming they had encouraged the ‘use of Molotov cocktails, armed uprising and social unrest’.
Police arrested more than 200 in Tehran on Saturday, with interior minister Abdolrahman Rahmani Fazli saying protesters will be met with an ‘iron fist’. He added: ‘Those who damage public property, disrupt order and break the law must pay the price.’
The protests are the most heated in Iran since 2009 after the disputed re-election of then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
President Trump tweeted yesterday: ‘The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!’ Two protesters were killed on Saturday night in clashes in the western city of Dorud, with Tehran blaming ‘foreign agents’.
The uprising has seen protesters chanting slogans in support of political prisoners and calling for unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to resign. Demonstrations have also been linked to the economic climate which sees inflation at 10 per cent, high unemployment and egg and poultry prices soaring by as much as 40 per cent.
President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday that Iranians had the right to demonstrate but added: ‘Their protests should be in such a way as to improve the situation.’