Protesters will pay, warns Iran
Iran on Sunday warned that protesters would “pay the price” after a third night of unrest saw mass demonstrations across the country in which dozens were arrested and official buildings attacked.
Videos shared on social media showed thousands marching in towns and cities throughout Iran overnight.
Travel restrictions and a near-total media blackout from official agencies made it very difficult to confirm the swirl of rumours spreading through social media.
Semi-official conservative outlets confirmed an evening attack on a town hall in Tehran and showed protesters attacking banks and municipal buildings in other did not manage to achieve parts of the country. their goals... and the town is
“Those who damage under control,” the unidentified public property, disrupt order official told the ILNA and break the law must be news agency. Iranian authorities responsible for their behaviour said the majority of social and pay the price,” media reports were emanating Interior Minister Abdolrahman from regional rival Saudi Rahmani Fazli said Arabia and exile groups based on state television early on in Europe. Internet was temporarily Sunday. cut on mobile phones
US President Donald last night but was restored not Trump weighed in on the long after. protests, saying “oppressive President Hassan Rouhani, regimes cannot endure forever”. who came to power in 2013 There was no confirmation promising and ease to mend social theeconomy tensions, of widespread reports that at least two people had has so far not made any statement been shot dead in the small since the unrest started western town of Dorud. in second city Mashhad on
In one of the few official Thursday. reports, an official in Arak, The protests began in around 300 km southwest of Mashhad against high living Tehran, said 80 people had costs and the struggling economy been arrested overnight. before spreading quickly
“Some intended to enter to other areas and turning and damage some government places but the attackers
against the Islamic regime as a whole. Slogans such as “Death to the dictator” have been heard throughout the protests.
There have been reminders of the regime’s continued support among conservative sections of society, with proregime students outnumbering protesters at the University of Tehran on Saturday.
Pre-planned rallies to mark the defeat of a 2009 protest movement also saw thousands of regime supporters out on the streets across the country on Saturday morning.
But the anti-government protests appear to have been driven in large part by poorer sections of society, angry over high unemployment, soaring prices and financial scandals.
“These protests are driven by the lower levels of society , who have been hit by economic problems, particularly losing their money when credit institutions collapsed,” said Payam Parhiz, editor-in-chief of reformist media network Nazar, which first broke news of the Mashhad protests.
“These economic protests are not something that has started overnight, it’s been at least a year since these people lost their money in credit institutions and have been protesting at various places,” he said.
Unemployment is high among young people, who have grown up in a less restrictive environment and are considered less deferential to authority.
Since the 2009 protests against a disputed presidential election that gave hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term were ruthlessly put down, many middle-class Iranians have abandoned hope of securing change from the streets.