After the bloodiest domestic crackdown in the history of the Islamic Republic, protests have died down since their peak last Thursday evening, the beginning of the Iranian weekend. Over January 8–9, violence erupted across the nation. Reuters reported on January 13 that two thousand protesters have been killed by Iranian security services, a number that is “close to reality” according to a senior Iranian political source, quoted by Amwaj.media. Iranians are currently in a state of shock. They are stuck between two fears: fear of life under the ruling order, and fear of the void that might replace it.
Information is currently extremely difficult to access, owing to the ongoing internet blackout and rife disinformation online. Despite this, footage has emerged of Iranian security services firing at protesters and even women shot in the head; state media has for the first time broadcast video of its repression. On January 13, a broadcast aired from a forensics facility south of Tehran showing scores of filled body bags laid out on the floor of a large hall.
The protests are principally about the economic conditions of everyday Iranians, who accuse the government of mismanagement and corruption.
An identification system was set up near screens displaying photographs of the faces of the dead for family members to identify bodies and take them away to bury. Tehran claims some protesters committed attacks of widespread arson and shot security personnel. Several prominent clerics and officials blame Israel. The foreign minister has suggested Benjamin Netenyahu was instrumentalizing the protests to “drag the U.S. into fighting wars on its behalf.” Meanwhile, state television has released CCTV footage that appears to show protesters with handguns or large knives, or throwing improvised bombs at burning government and military buildings and mosques. Former heads of the intelligence services in both the United States and Israel have claimed that their governments…
Auteur: Arron Reza Merat
