2019–2020 Iranian protests: Difference between revisions
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=== Repression === |
=== Repression === |
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The government agents in Iran are accused of snatching the bodies of the |
The government agents in Iran are accused of snatching the bodies of the dead protesters from morgues, or injured from hospitals, to give the uprising a lower profile.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/23/iranian-masks-spiraling-protest-death-toll-stealing-bodies-morgues/ Iranian officials 'stealing bodies' from morgues to hide true scale of government crackdown]</ref> <ref>[https://www.albawaba.com/node/mysterious-disappearances-iran-stealing-bodies-morgues-disguise-crackdown-protesters Mysterious Disappearances: Is Iran Stealing Bodies From Morgues to Disguise Crackdown on Protesters?]</ref> |
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== Tactics and methods == |
== Tactics and methods == |
Revision as of 12:33, 26 November 2019
2019 Iranian protests | |||
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Part of 2018–2019 Iranian general strikes and protests | |||
![]() Protesters in Sadeghiyeh, Tehran demonstrating against the government and fuel prices, on 16 November. | |||
Date | 15 November 2019 – ongoing | ||
Location | |||
Caused by |
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Goals |
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Methods | Demonstrations, riots, sit-ins, civil resistance, online activisms, arson | ||
Parties | |||
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Lead figures | |||
Number | |||
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Casualties and losses | |||
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The 2019 Iranian protests are a series of civil protests occurring in multiple cities across Iran, initially from the 200% increase in fuel prices but later extended to an outcry against the current regime in Iran and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.[5][6] The protests commenced in the evening of 15 November and within hours spread to 21 cities as videos of the protest began to circulate online.[7][8][9] Images of the violent protests were shared on the internet with protests reaching international levels.[10]
The human rights organization Amnesty International reported that the government has used lethal force in cities across the country and that there have been at least 143 people killed by gunshots from the IRGC and other armed forces under direct orders from the supreme leader.[11] The Amnesty claim was rejected by the spokesman for Iran mission to UN Alireza Miryousefi.[12]
In order to block the sharing of information regarding the protests and the deaths of hundreds of protesters on social media platforms, the government blocked the Internet nationwide, resulting in a near-total internet blackout of around six days.[13][14]
The Iranian government reportedly confiscated the bodies of killed and injured protesters in order to conceal the real extent of the suppression by the government.[15] [16]
Based on Amnesty International and Radio Farda's account, this series of protests could be the most violent and severe since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.[17]
Background
Sanctions by the United States and the European Union, coupled with economic mismanagement, have led to a severe economic crisis in Iran in the past few years.[18] Prior to the unrest, current President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani said, "Iran is experiencing one of its hardest years since the 1979 Islamic revolution".[8] Iranian allies in Lebanon and Iraq have also witnessed anti-government protests.[8]
At midnight on 15 November 2019, the Iranian government announced that they would increase the price on fuel.[8] Prior to the price increase, drivers could buy up to 250 litres (66 US gal) for 10,000 Iranian rial per litre (around $1.15 per US gallon), with the new prices being 15,000 rial per litre (around $1.70 per US gallon) for the first 60 litres (16 US gal) per month, and 30,000 per litre (around $3.40 per US gallon) after that, a price increase of 50% to 200%.[6] An Iranian state-television programme described these measures as a way to help fund the subsidies of around 60 million Iranians.[18]
History
After the government announced the price increase in the early hours of 15 November, Iranians in various cities took to the streets to protest.
One protester was reportedly killed in Sirjan after security forces opened fire. Other demonstrators in the city set fire to a gas station, and chanted "Rouhani, leave this country".[5] Protesters in Ahvaz demanded that people boycott fuel and stop their cars in the middle of the road as a sign of protest.[19]
In Mashhad, Iran's second largest city, demonstrators blocked traffic in the streets and highways.[18] Protesters gathered late into the night in Qods, a suburb of Tehran, and destroyed a police vehicle.[20]
Protests continued to expand for a second day on 16 November. Demonstrators gathered in over 50 cities and many major cities such as Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and Shiraz to protest the sudden price hike.[21] Security forces shot at protesters with live bullets in an effort to disperse them, killing at least ten protesters in Isfahan, Behbahan, Kermanshah, Karaj, and Shiraz.[22] Chants by demonstrators targeted the regime and its leaders with people chanting, "Shah of Iran, return to Iran!", "Clerics must get lost", "Death to the dictator", "Death to the Islamic Republic", "Our military brothers, why do you kill your brother?", "Bless your soul Reza Shah", "Not Gaza, not Lebanon, my life only for Iran", "Oil money has been lost, it has all been spent on Palestine", "They have brought up Islam, but trampled the people".[23]
Several banks in Eslamshahr, Behbahan, and Tehran, and one religious school in Isfahan were burned down by protesters.[22] In Shahriar demonstrators burned down a monument depicting the ring of the Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.[24]
On 16 November, internet access across the country was reported to be in a near-total shutdown, with online activity estimated to be 7% of ordinary levels.[25][26]
State news agencies reported that over 1,000 people had been arrested so far and that the protests had spread to over 100 cities in Iran.[22]
Shop owners in Tehran and Isfahan closed the bazaars and went on strike in protest. While in Tabriz, students from the University of Tabriz left their classes and demonstrated at the university.[27][28]
Students at the University of Tehran gathered for a second consecutive day to protest the current situation in the country and chanted "Death to the dictator", and "Not Gaza, not Lebanon, my life only for Iran".[29] Protests continued in the Sadeghiyeh neighbourhood of Tehran, and the bazaar was packed with security forces attempting to prevent bazaar merchants from going on strike.[30] Citizens of Tehran reported that despite the internet shutdown, the protests gathered in intensity on Tuesday.[30]
Heavy clashes were also reported in Shiraz, where the security forces fired directly at people.[30] Authorities reported that nine Islamic seminaries and Friday prayer offices were burned by protesters across the country.[31] Protests continued for a fifth consecutive day on 19 November despite a heavy security presence the country. Gatherings were reported in Tehran, Karaj, Shiraz and Isfahan.[32] The city of Shush in Khuzestan province, was effectively closed down as Haft Tappeh workers protested the current conditions.[33]
Revolution Guards in Iran took the bodies of the dead protesters and the injured in hospitals, in order to hide to hide the true death count and give the uprising a lower profile. In some cases, government officials sold the bodies of the protesters. [34] [35] [36]
Internet shutdown
On the eve of the protests, Iranian authorities started disrupting internet connections and social media. The internet was effectively blocked following Iran’s Supreme National Security Council decision to shut it down for 24 hours.[37][38][39]
As per NetBlocks, users first reported outages in Mashhad on 15 November. The disruptions increased in extent and severity with impact also visible on overall connectivity charts. Iran’s largest mobile network operators, including MCI, Rightel and IranCell, fell offline on the evening of 16 November 2019. By 20 November, national connectivity was at 5% of ordinary levels, making it difficult to monitor human rights violations and cover incidents on the ground.[40]
The government has also jammed satellite TV connections and sent anonymous messages to people near protest sites reading: “We know you are here.”[41]
On 21 November 2019, a small return of connectivity was tracked by NetBlocks, along with reports that some users had come online; national connectivity was up to 8%.[42]
Repression
The government agents in Iran are accused of snatching the bodies of the dead protesters from morgues, or injured from hospitals, to give the uprising a lower profile.[43] [44]
Tactics and methods
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Iranian_protesters_in_November_of_2019._Isfahan.jpg/220px-Iranian_protesters_in_November_of_2019._Isfahan.jpg)
Protesters began by organizing rallies in protest of the Iran's government resulting in police gunfire. As protests were met with government crackdowns, protesters began to block streets and highways. The protests intensified with Iranians burning pictures and banners of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei and burning government banks. Many protest chants and slogans were directed at expressing discontent with the Iranian government's spending on conflicts in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Other chants praised the late Shah of Iran calling for his return.[45]
Deaths and casualties
A man in Sirjan was killed and several others were injured after security forces opened fire on protesters on 15 November.[46][47] The following day, ten protesters were killed during demonstrations.[22]
The BBC has reported that there is a huge variance in the number of people killed. Unofficial reports from various sources say that from 15 to 19 November, about 200 people were killed and 3,000 injured. UN Human Rights say "dozens of people may have been killed" while Amnesty International places the number at "at least 106". Iranian authorities say "only a few people have been killed".[48]
As of 19 November, Amnesty International has claimed that around 16 people were killed in Kermanshah, 14 each in Bandar-e Mahshahr and in Javanroud, 9 in Mariwan, 8 in Behbahan, 6 each in Ramhormoz, Sadra and in Shiraz, 4 each in Bukan, Karaj and in Robatkarim, 3 in Khorramshahr, 2 each in Abadan, Ahvaz and in Bumahen, and 1 each in Tehran, Isfahan, Eslamshahr, Sanandaj, Shahriar and in Sirjan.[49][50]
Impacts
The savings from the fuel price rises are planned to be distributed to 18 million poor families, representing 75% of Iran’s population.[41][8] However, with inflation already at 40% and a plummeting currency, according to The Economist, "the inflationary effects of the price rise risk wiping out most of the benefit."[8] This inflationary threat has been acknowledged by Khamenei.[8]
Aftermath
Iranian news agency said that starting from 19 November 2019, thousands of people in cities across Iran participated in separate pro-government rallies in condemnation of the "riots" and showed support for Iran supreme leader.[51] On 20 November 2019, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared victory against "enemy". Iran started gradually restoring internet connection the following day.[52][53] Many supporters (including IRGC leader Hossein Salami) also called for the death penalty on the anti-government protesters.[54]
Reactions
National
- Supreme Leader of Iran, Khamenei
- At the beginning of Dars-e Kharej on 17 November, he remarked that he was not an expert in this regard, but this policy had been adopted by the heads of the country, based on expert opinion. Therefore, this decision should be acted on. He said that in any case, some people had become displeased, but setting fire to such and such a bank was not the action of the people; rather it was the action of thugs. Such actions were not carried out by ordinary people, Khamenei claimed. "Of course, officials should also pay attention and decrease the problems associated as much as they can."[55][56] Khamenei also blamed the protests on “all of the centres of villainy around the world that oppose us.”[8]
- Also at a meeting with producers, economic activists and entrepreneurs on 19 November he stated:
- "Both friends and foes should know that we have repelled the enemy in the war in military, political and security issues. The recent actions were security issues, not from the people. We have repelled the enemy in various areas, and by God's grace, we will also definitely repel the enemy in the economic war."[57][58][59]
- Parvaneh Salahshouri, a member of parliament, stated that the decision to increase the price of fuel was not made by the Majles and had been made by the heads of the three branches. Salahshouri stated, "It has been a while now that parliament is not involved in the decision-making process." She continued and, referring to the parliament, said, "The last semblance of a democracy we had is no more. Shut down the next parliament, it is an act of economic resistance".[60]
- Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Alavi Gorgani asked the government to "change their decision to increase fuel prices before it is too late".[22]
International
United States
- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo supported the demonstrations and stated that "The United States is with [the Iranian people]".[61]
- The Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders criticized the Iranian government for not letting its civilians protest for a "better future" and to stop "showing violence against demonstrators."[62]
- The United States implemented sanctions on Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran's communications minister, following the deactivation of internet servers inside Iran.[63]
Others
- Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran, tweeted that the Islamic Republic had brought only poverty and suffering to the Iranian people. He also said that the only thing offered for free by the Islamic Republic was oil to its allies in the region, a reference to Syria's president Bashar Assad.[64]
See also
- 2019 Iraqi protests
- 2019 Lebanese protests
- 2018–2019 Iranian general strikes and protests
- Internet censorship in Iran
- 2019 Persian Gulf crisis
- 2017–18 Iranian protests
References
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{{cite web}}
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at position 337 (help) - ^ Iranian officials 'stealing bodies' from morgues to hide true scale of government crackdown
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{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "پنجمین روز پیاپی اعتراضها در ایران: ادامه درگیریها با وجود افزایش جو امنیتی". Iran International (in Persian). 19 November 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
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has generic name (help) - ^ "The uprising in Iran: 'These people have nothing to lose. They're fearless now.' – Macleans.ca". www.macleans.ca. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
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{{cite web}}
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{{cite web}}
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has generic name (help) - ^ Sanders, Bernie. "All people have the right to protest for a better future. I call on the Iranian government to end the internet blackout and stop violence against demonstrators". Twitter.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "US sanctions Iran's information minister over internet blackout". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
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