‘Signs of cracks’ within Iran’s government as protests endure
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‘Signs of cracks’ within Iran’s government as protests endure
By Euronews with AFP
Unrest is enduring in Iran, with experts warning ‘cracks’ are showing within the embattled government, AFP reports.
Despite the regime’s fierce repression, involving hundreds of killings, mass detentions and four executions so far, protests are continuing in Iran, though in different forms and more sporadically.
“Revolutionary processes usually involve phases of relative calm and others of tumult,” said Ali Fathollah-Nejad, a political scientist at the American University of Beirut
Though there has been a “relative decline” in the number of demonstrations, Iran is “at an impasse, neither the regime nor the demonstrators being able to impose themselves”, he continued, hinting further unrest as the country’s economic crisis deepens.
Protests were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini on 16 September. The 22-year-old Kurdish woman died after being arrested by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
Protests soon morphed into a wider challenge to Iran’s Islamic government which is deeply unpopular among large swathes of the population.
“With the considerable loss of value of the Iranian currency… one can expect demonstrations focused on the economy, which, as the past shows, could quickly become political”, said Fathollah-Nejad.
Millions of Iranians are being pushed to the brink, with the country’s currency taking a battering in recent months and years.
On Sunday, the Iranian currency reached an all-time low of 450,000 rials to the US dollar on the open market.
‘More cautious citizens’
Faced with violent oppression, strikes and other acts of resistance such as writing slogans or destroying government signs have increased, reports enqelab.info, which monitors protest activity.
“The national uprising is alive, although the way people express their dissent has changed due to the authorities’ deadly crackdown during [autumn],” enqelab said in a statement.
According to the Norwegian NGO Iran Human Rights, at least 481 people have been killed and at least 109 people are at risk of execution over the protests.
Four men have already been hanged.
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