Demonstrators have continued to take to the streets of #Iran,
defying an escalating crackdown by authorities against the growing #protest movement.
An #internet #shutdown imposed by the authorities on Thursday has largely cut the protesters off from the rest of the world,
but videos that trickled out of the country showed thousands of people demonstrating in Tehran overnight into Saturday morning.
They chanted:
💥“Death to Khamenei,”
in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and:
💥“Long live the shah.”
New protests broke out late on Saturday
with people rallying in a northern district of Tehran, according to a video verified by AFP.
Authorities warned people to not take part in protests on Saturday.
The country’s attorney general,
Mohammad Mahvadi Azad,
said anyone who did so would be considered an
“enemy of god”,
a charge which carries the death penalty.
State TV later clarified that anyone who even assisted protesters could face the charge.
Despite the crackdown,
more protests were planned for the weekend.
Reza Pahlavi,
the exiled son of the former shah of Iran,
called for protesters to take to the streets on Saturday and Sunday
and seize control of their towns.
Pahlavi, who has emerged as an increasingly popular figure in the current round of protests,
asked people to hoist the pre-1979
“lion and sun” flag
that was used during his father’s rule.
“Our goal is no longer merely to come into the streets.
The goal is to prepare to seize city centres and hold them,”
he said,
promising he would return to Iran soon.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/10/iran-protesters-tell-of-brutal-police-response-deaths-and-forced-confessions?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
