Protests seeking to overthrow Islamic Republic rock Iran

Agencies | Tehran                                          

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Protestors seeking to “overthrow” the Islamic Republic rocked Tehran and other Iranian cities yesterday with rallies, after a seeming slowdown in recent weeks, online video posts purportedly showed yesterday.

The marches began on Thursday evening and went on into the night that marked 40 days since the execution of two protesters last month. According to Reuters, Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini were hanged on Jan. 8.

Two others were executed in December. Videos yesterday showed overnight demonstrations in several neighbourhoods in Tehran as well as in the cities of Karaj, Isfahan, Qazvin, Rasht, Arak, Mashhad, Sanandaj, Qorveh, and Izeh in Khuzestan province.

An online video purportedly from the holy city of Mashhad in the northeast showed protesters chanting: “My martyred brother, we shall avenge your blood.”

Other videos showed large protests yesterday in Zahedan, capital of southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to Iran’s Baluchi minority. The long wave of unrest has posed one of the strongest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.

Openly defying the hijab rules, women have waved and burned their scarves or cut their hair. While the unrest appeared to have tapered off in recent weeks, likely because of the executions or the brutal crackdown, acts of civil disobedience have continued unabated.