The family of four was watching television at home in central Tehran on Sunday night when a series of big explosions outside rattled their windows. The mother grabbed her two children and ducked under the dining table.

The husband peeked out from a window to see what was going on and several laser dots flashed on his body — a warning from the security forces arrayed outside his apartment block that he had been spotted. He joined a chorus of voices from other apartments chanting “death to the dictator,” the antigovernment cry that has been taken up by thousands of protesters across Iran for more than a month.

The husband and wife, in interviews by telephone from Tehran, described the attack Sunday on the Shahrak Ekbatan apartment complex where they live as tantamount to a military invasion, with security forces shooting into windows and using stun grenades and tear gas. Videos posted on social media and statements by other residents corroborated their account.

The couple asked not to be identified by name for fear of retribution from the authorities, who have cracked down hard on those engaged in the protests that erupted in late September when a young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the morality police. The protesters are demanding an end to the Islamic Republic’s rule.

Shahrak Ekbatan, a sprawling middle-class apartment complex in the west of Tehran with nearly 50,000 residents, had for the past six weeks been the scene of nightly protests in the aftermath of Ms. Amini’s death.

The nighttime protests typically unfold with young men and women gathering in the common outdoor area chanting “Freedom, freedom” and “The end is here, dictator.” Some young women twirl their hijabs in their hands, in defiance of rules requiring them to be worn. Thousands of other residents chant slogans against the authorities from their apartment windows.

The names of those killed in the uprising have been spray-painted on pillars in Shahrak Ekbatan’s outdoor area, videos on social media show.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/world/middleeast/iran-protests-crackdown-tehran.html