Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
After the protests
Pro-government crowds stage rallies across Iran.
TEHRAN, Iran — Tens of thousands of government supporters took to the streets across Iran on Wednesday as authorities tried to project a sense of stability after a week of nationwide protests sparked deadly clashes and calls for the downfall of the Islamic Republic.
But even as state television aired shots showing support among Iran’s 80 million people for its clerically overseen government, videos emerged showing the anti-government unrest that has swept major cities has also spread to the countryside.
The violence has killed at least 21 people and seen hundreds more arrested by authorities.
The past week’s protests have been the largest since the disputed 2009 presidential election, which ended in bloodshed. While many Iranians denounce the violence that has accompanied some demonstrations, they echo the protesters’ frustration over the weak economy and official corruption.
The government “should not punish the guilty and the innocent alike,” said Mohammad Hossein Vakili, 20, a computer science student in Tehran who has struggled to find meaningful work and who joined in peaceful protests.
“Why should they arrest someone like me when I protest the rise of the price of eggs?” he said.
It remains difficult for journalists to piece together what’s happening beyond the capital, especially as the government has blocked the photosharing app Instagram and the messaging app Telegram, which protesters have used to organize their demonstrations and share footage.
The protests began Dec. 28 in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city and a bastion for hard-liners, initially focusing on Iran’s flagging economy and rising food prices. Now, they’ve morphed into demands for wholesale change in Iran’s theocratic government.
On Wednesday, state TV reported pro-government demonstrations in dozens of cities and towns.
The English-language Press TV broadcast Wednesday’s pro-government rallies live, saying they sought to “protest the violence that has taken place over the last few nights in cities.”
Among the signs carried by supporters at Wednesday’s pro-government rallies were ones targeting Israel, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday blamed the protests on meddling by “enemies of Iran.”
Some demonstrators also held aloft pictures of U.S. President Donald Trump with a bright red “X” through his face. Trump has tweeted several times over the last few days in support of the antigovernment protests, comments that have angered many Iranians given his travel ban barring them from getting U.S. visas, as well as his comments over the nuclear deal.
The 2015 agreement, in which Iran curbed its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of some international sanctions, remains popular in Iran, but one of the central grievances of the protesters is that average Iranians have seen few benefits from it.
Trump kept up with the tweets Wednesday, writing: “Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government.”
He added: “You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!”
The U.N.’ high commissioner for human rights, meanwhile, called on Iran to investigate all deaths in the protests and act “with great care so as not to further inflame violence and unrest.”
Iranian officials have downplayed the protests.
Turkish officials on Wednesday said Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani told his Turkish counterpart during a phone call that he hopes the protests “will end in a couple of days.”
State TV quoted the chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, as saying Wednesday marked “the end of the sedition.”