Iran Protests Continue for 7 Weeks Despite Revolutionary Guard Crackdown... "Death to the Dictator"

Anti-government protests spreading... Students also join
Revolutionary Guards pressure "Do not come out to the streets"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The anti-government protests in Iran, which began as the so-called 'hijab protests,' have continued into their seventh week despite indications of a harsh crackdown by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). As the protests spread mainly among students, the number of casualties has also significantly increased.

According to AFP on the 30th (local time), anti-government protesters, primarily students, continued their demonstrations throughout the night across Iran. Protests took place in major cities including university campuses in the capital Tehran, southern Kerman, and western Kermanshah. AFP reported that the protesters were chanting slogans such as "Death to the dictator," demanding the overthrow of the regime.

Despite Hossein Salami, Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, stating the previous day that "today is the last day of protests" and warning that people should not take to the streets, the size of the protests expanded further. At a student rally held in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province in the west, security forces reportedly fired shots and launched tear gas at the protesters.

Human rights organizations have counted at least 160 deaths so far, including 24 children, due to the protests. On the 30th of last month, a separate protest erupted in Zahedan in the southeast over a police sexual assault incident involving a teenager, resulting in at least 93 deaths.

Journalists covering the protests are also being arrested one after another. On the 30th, about 300 Iranian journalists and photographers issued a statement condemning the police authorities for "detaining, arresting, and stripping their colleagues of citizenship." The reformist daily newspaper Sazandegi reported that "more than 20 journalists are still detained," and the Tehran Journalists Association criticized the police arrests as illegal and a violation of press freedom.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.