Protests continue in Iran despite claims ‘sedition’ defeated
Tens of thousands of Iranians took part in pro-government demonstrations in several cities yesterday, while the head of the country’s Revolutionary Guards declared the defeat of the “sedition”.
The week of protests against the government and unrest has killed at least 21 people.
But while the rallies showed support among Iran’s 80 million people for its clerically overseen government, the unrest that has swept through many cities appeared to be reaching smaller towns in the countryside, according to protesters’ online videos.
Official and semi-official media did not give details of the unrest yesterday.
The protests, the largest seen in Iran since its disputed 2009 presidential election, began on December 28 in Mashhad, the second-largest city and a bastion for hard-liners. While initially focusing on Iran’s flagging economy and rising food prices, they have become demands for wholesale change in Iran’s government.
Yesterday, state TV reported that pro-government demonstrations took place in dozens of cities and towns, including Ahvaz, the capital of the oilrich province of Khuzestan; the Kurdish town of Kermanshah in the country’s west; and Qom, the religious capital of Shia Islam in Iran.
Demonstrators carried preprinted signs and Iranian flags, with state TV offering a swooping helicopter shot in Ahvaz to show their scale. Ahvaz and the wider Khuzestan province is home to many ethnic Arabs and has seen unrest amid the protests.
In Qom, state TV cameras focused on the Shia clerics taking part, many wearing the black turbans identifying them as direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.
The English-language Press TV broadcast pro-government rallies live, saying they sought to “protest at the violence that has taken place over the last few nights in cities”. State TV said the demonstrations served as an “answer to the protests,” which it blamed on “servants of the US”.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed the protests on meddling by “enemies of Iran”.
He said: “Look at the recent days’ incidents. All those who are at odds with the Islamic Republic have used various means, including money, weapons, politics and [the] intelligence apparatus, to create problems for the Islamic system, the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution.”
Mr Khamenei avoided identifying any foreign countries, although he promised to elaborate in the coming days.
Undoubtedly high on his list is the US, where President Donaldtrumphastweetedhis support for the protests.
Some pro-government demonstrators carried signs showing Mr Trump’s face covered with a red “X”.