A protest movement, which began in Iran on Sunday with a strike and demonstrations by Tehran’s shopkeepers, continued Friday in multiple towns and cities across the country, with university students joining the protests.
Demonstrations are spreading from major cities to smaller provincial towns and are increasingly fraught.
At least seven people died on Thursday in clashes between protesters and security forces in western Iran, local media reported.
The Iranian authorities have ordered the closure of public institutions, placing much of the country on holiday, officially citing the cold weather and the need to save energy.
The discontent is not, so far, on the same scale as the unprecedented national protests seen in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022, during which demonstrators called for increased rights for women and the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
But videos posted on social media show demonstrators from different social groups taking to the streets to express widespread discontent and voice demands for political, social and economic change. Here is what they are calling for:
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“Not Gaza, not Lebanon, may my life be sacrificed for Iran”
This chant, taken up by protesters in the early days of the demonstrations, reflects growing anger over Iran’s foreign policy.
For decades, Iran has pursued a policy of regional engagement by supporting the militant groups Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The protesters argue that these alliances are diverting resources away from domestic needs at a time when Iran is undergoing a severe economic crisis.
A sharp currency slide has crippled sales of imported goods – sparking unrest among Iran’s shopkeepers – while rampant inflation is affecting the wider population.
Prices rose by an average of 52 percent year-on-year in December, according to the Statistical Centre of Iran, and this average masks even more dramatic increases in the cost of basic necessities, fuelling popular anger against the regime.
“Don’t be afraid, we are all together!”
On the third day of demonstrations, a young woman, dressed in trainers and with her hair up in a ponytail, led a group of protesting shopkeepers through a throughfare of Tehran’s Grand Bazar.
With her fist raised, video footage shows her turn to the crowd behind her and shout: “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid! We are all together!”
Her courageous rallying cry shocked bystanders and was immediately picked up by the other, mostly male, demonstrators. As the protest passed by, the person filming the scene was impressed. “Well done! That girl is so brave,” they said.
The words the female demonstrator used are familiar – they have been heard at protests in Iran for years. But the sight of a young woman among the bazar traders, who appear to be supporting her, shows how two separate strands of dissent are starting to intertwine.
The bazar traders typically belong to more religious and traditional sections of society, making them unlikely allies of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, sparked by Amini’s death, which calls for the end of repression and discrimination against women.
The joint protest in the Grand Bazar has been echoed in recent days by other chants calling for social unity.
At Yard University in central Iran, female students gathered on December 30 shouted: “Iranians, speak up and demand your rights!”, “Don’t just stand by and watch, join us!” and “Anyone who says they are neutral is dishonourable.”
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“Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”
This chant, typically heard among university students, has resurfaced in recent days. In a video from December 30, students in the hallways of the Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology in Tehran beat a rhythm with their feet as they chant the words.
Universities in Iran are under high surveillance but remain hotbeds of protest. Students from dormitories at the University of Tehran on Monday evening were heard chanting “Protest, free students! Protest!”
Security forces quickly surrounded their building and blocked the entryways. But they could not prevent student marches spreading to a dozen other major universities in the capital the next day.
“Police officers! Support us!”
Female students at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University attacked security forces who had come to break up a gathering in their halls of residence on Wednesday night with cries of “Without honour! Without honour!”, French journalist Armin Arefi reported.
The chant has been heard repeatedly at demonstrations since Sunday, breaking out near police roadblocks, during detonations of tear gas, and as the police performed violent arrests.
It can be heard in a video from December 31 showing a student being apprehended in front of his classmates by plainclothes security forces.
Shopkeepers and traders who took to the streets on Thursday started shouting insults at police officers before their cries turned to an exhortation for the forces of order to join the protest.
“Police officers! Support us!” they chanted, hopeful that some officers might switch allegiance and tip the balance of the movement in the protesters’ favour.
“This year will be the year of blood, Ali [Khamenei] will be overthrown!”
Young protesters were filmed shouting a direct threat to Iran’s supreme leader on January 1, in the city of Marvdasht in southern Iran. The video has since been shared widely online.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, leader of the Islamic Republic, has long been the target of protesters’ anger. “Death to the dictator” is a popular chant in Tehran and other provinces.
At the University of Tehran, students were also heard shouting “Death to the principle of Velayate Faqih!”, openly criticising Khamenei’s vision of the Islamic Republic.
Velayate Faqih (or the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) is a concept that gives religious leaders more power than their political counterparts and places the supreme leader at the head of State.
The chant targets not just the Khamenei but his entire political system.
Political chants have also referenced the former regime, which was led by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, until he was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979. His son, Reza Pahlavi, now lives in the US and is a controversial opposition figure, supported by some protesters.
Chants of “this is the final battle, Pahlavi will return!” and “Reza Shah, may your soul rest in peace,” have been heard at some demonstrations.
Opponents of Reza Pahlavi point to his close ties with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli media outlet Haaretz recently reported on an influence operation aimed at reinstalling him as Shah during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.
Demonstrators who reject both the current and former regime have been heard chanting “Neither Shah nor Mullah [a title for Muslim clergy]”.
Beyond political allegiance, the majority of protesters are united around a broader aspiration: to turn the page on the Islamic Republic and build a different future.
This article was adapted by Joanna York. Click here to read the original in French.
