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Residents of Tehran recently voiced their dissent against the country’s clerical leadership by shouting slogans from their balconies and windows. This act of defiance followed massive opposition rallies held by Iranians living abroad, which drew hundreds of thousands of participants.
The Islamic Republic, led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has faced significant turmoil, particularly during a protest movement that surged in January. Human rights organizations report that the government’s response was severe, resulting in a crackdown that claimed thousands of lives.
Although the intensity of street protests has waned due to the government’s harsh measures, residents in Tehran and other cities have found a way to express their discontent. From the safety of their homes within large apartment complexes, they have been chanting slogans against the leadership.
On a recent evening, individuals in the eastern Tehran district of Ekbatan voiced chants such as “death to Khamenei,” “death to the Islamic republic,” and “long live the shah.” This information comes from the Shahrak Ekbatan social media account, which keeps track of events in the area.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former shah who was overthrown during the Islamic revolution, encouraged these domestic demonstrations to coincide with international protests over the weekend.
Mass protests
The global protests started in New Zealand, where deputy prime minister David Seymour told crowds the decision to follow Australia’s lead and designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation is being “discussed at the highest levels of our government”.
In November, the Australian government listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran as a “state sponsor of terrorism”.
The move came three months after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation accused the group of orchestrating two separate arson attacks against Australia’s Jewish community.
At a rally in the southern German city of Munich, police said 250,000 people gathered. In an unusual move, the demonstration was personally addressed by Pahlavi.
Pahlavi hailed the rally as the biggest such in years and said he was ready to lead a transition in Iran.
Monarchist supporters were also gladdened by an extremely rare public appearance at the rally by his sole surviving full sibling, his sister the former princess Farahnaz.
However, one protester in Munich said the Iranian people “do not want a dictatorship, neither the shah, nor the monarchy, nor the religious dictatorship that currently exists. We are here to demand a democratic and secular republic for the Iranian people.”
Other major rallies were held in diaspora strongholds, including Los Angeles and Toronto.
Pahlavi’s office said on X that over a million people had attended such rallies worldwide, but it was not immediately possible to confirm the figure.
The new actions come two days ahead of talks on Tuesday in Geneva between the US and Iran focused on the Iranian nuclear program, which are seen as crucial to determining if Washington goes ahead with military action against Tehran.
According to the latest toll issued by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, over 7,000 people were killed during the protests, the vast majority protesters shot dead by security forces.
Almost 54,000 people have been arrested in a crackdown that is ongoing, it added.
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