Eye on Iran's Protests - October 23, 2022

A protest movement is sweeping Iran in the aftermath of the killing of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the so-called “morality police.” UANI’s Eye on Iran's Protests is a daily news and events round-up to increase awareness of this movement and the regime’s brutal response. Now is the time to support the Iranian people. 

Tens Of Thousands March In Berlin In Support Of Iran Protests | Reuters
Videos posted on social media and reviewed by Reuters showed protests continuing to rage in major cities in Iran, including Tehran, Mashhad, Mahabad, and Dezful, along with at university campuses. Anger expressed in calls for the supreme leader’s execution have not abated. 

Thursday night, magnificent crowds overran the streets of Tehran.

Lawmaker Suggests Iran Recruited Children For Protest Crackdown | Al Monitor
An Iranian lawmaker suggested on Thursday that children were being recruited into the volunteer paramilitary organization known as the Basij to crack down on protests. Photos of teenaged boys wielding batons in riot gear reportedly emerged on the internet. 

Iran Teachers To Strike Over 'Merciless' Crackdown On Children | Agence France-Presse
On Thursday, a teachers union called for strikes to resume on Sunday over the lethal attacks on high school children carried out by Iranian security forces over the past few days and weeks. The Coordination Council of Teachers Syndicates union was reportedly organizing sit-in strikes for teachers as Amnesty International reported that at least 23 children have been killed since the start of protests. 

What Iran’s Protest Slogans Tell Us About The Uprising | Washington Post
Iran’s protest slogans, ranging from “Women, Life, Freedom” to “Death to Khamenei,” speak to prominent qualities of this round of protests in Iran. The former underscores the centrality of youth anger over the subjugation of women and gender discrimination. The ubiquitous calls for the execution of the supreme leader show deep and widespread frustration and disillusionment with the regime and a vigorous pursuit of freedom through regime change, not reform. 

Warning: sensitive content. Advocates raised calls for a U.N. special commission to investigate the Iranian regime’s abuses and crimes against its own people in response to video footage of security personnel engaged in the act of killing.

Massive crowds descended on Berlin in an outpouring of solidarity with the Iranian protest movement. The total number of attendees reportedly exceeded tens of thousands.

Warning: sensitive content. Amnesty International compiled footage of regime violence against protesters. Riot police are shown wielding batons against peaceful protesters.

Readout Of White House Meeting With Iranian Human Rights Activists | The White House
On Friday, senior White House officials sought advice from Iranian activists and experts on what the Biden administration could do to support the protest movement in Iran. Diplomatic and economic tools available to the U.S. were discussed, according to the White House readout. 

Starlink receivers have found their way into Iran.  Western officials hope that this will help improve internet connectivity in Iran, which not only can improve communications with the outside world but among organizers and protesters inside Iran.

Iran Protests Trigger Solidarity Rallies In US, Europe | Associated Press
Berlin was not the only site of large-scale protests organized with the support of the Iranian diaspora community, but they also took place in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles yesterday. Together demonstrators called for freedom for the Iranian people, and expressed their desire to stand with them in their struggle for basic rights and liberation from regime oppression.

East Iran City, Scene Of Bloody Crackdown, Sees New Protests | Associated Press
The scene of one of the bloodiest crackdowns on peaceful protesters to date was the site of increasingly intense civil disobedience following prayers on Friday. In Zahedan, shop doors were gaping open, their windows shattered and glass strewn across the street. The ethnic Baluch people of this southeastern city are, according to their chants, seeking vindication for the killing of their friends and families in the brutal crackdown at the end of September. 

Reporting In Iran Could Get You Jailed. This Outlet Is Doing It Anyway. | Washington Post
IranWire sources received recognition in the Washington Post for continuing to report and provide information despite the severe risk to life and limb. Video footage received by IranWire is frequently used by mainstream news outlets such as CNN and often make waves on social media websites like Twitter. IranWire along with other outlets like Bellingcat, Rappler, and Coda warrant the attention of activists and observers concerned with the human rights situation in Iran, as they are known for their rigorous investigative reporting.

The Kurdish cities of Sanandaj, Boukan, Marivan, and Saghez, often the site of business strikes, again saw widespread shop closures yesterday.

IRGC Paper Threatens Germany Over Large Opposition Rally In Berlin | Iran International
An Iranian hardline newspaper affiliated with the U.S.-designated terrorist organization the Revolutionary Guards blamed Germany for supporting regime-change in Tehran and vowed revenge against the country for the thirty-thousand strong protest in Berlin. As always, the hardliners focused their ire on foreigners instead of acknowledging that the drive for regime-change comes from the Iranian people. 

Students at Sharif University of Technology, where Iran’s security forces brutally suppressed protests a few weeks ago, packed into a campus building and vigorously shouted “Freedom!” 

Protesters strip the turban off the head of an old cleric and tell him “Get lost!”