Supreme leader places security services on highest state of alert as protests continue
Revolutionary Guard ordered to take control of the streets amid fears of defections in the army and police.
Hundreds of women lined up for a marathon on Iran’s resort island of Kish in early December wearing matching shirts and leggings with hair tied loosely behind their backs.
People are now more determined and furious.”Vast crowds of Iranians have taken to the streets of the capital, Tehran, and several other cities, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic and in many places for the restoration of the monarchy.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have clashed with security forces as the tense situation in Iran escalated further out of control during nationwide protests.
Wild scenes emerged from Tehran on Thursday night as people marched through the streets of the capital, as well as in the nation’s cities and towns, on the twelfth day of rallies.
Videos posted online showed multiple tense stand-offs between protesters and security forces, with sounds of gunshots heard in the background of some clips.
Demonstrations first began last month in Tehran, triggered by a sharp decline in the value of the rial currency. Protests have since spread to all 31 of the country’s provinces, with tens of thousands gathering in the streets.
The death toll from the violence around the demonstrations has now reached at least 62, with more than 2,300 other people detained, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Authorities have imposed a nationwide internet blackout, with state media blaming the protests on “terrorist agents” from the US and Israel.
Young and old, rich and poor, Iranians across the country and from all walks of life are now demonstrating their fury at the clerical establishment which has ruled them for close to half a century.
One young woman in Tehran told the BBC she was protesting because her dreams had been “stolen” and she wanted the regime to know that “we still have a voice to shout, a fist to punch them in the face”.
Another spoke of the despair and hopelessness that is driving the protests.
“We’re living in limbo,” she said. “I feel like I’m hanging in the air with neither wings to migrate nor hope to pursue my goals here. Life here has become unbearable.”
Day after day, since late December, protests in Iran have been spreading and building momentum, fuelled by deep-seated economic and political frustration.
