A fter the revolution in 1979, Islamic government system was established in Iran, which was structurally unique. The first mass protests in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran erupted in 1999, due to the suspension of the pro-reformist Salam newspaper and since then large-scale protests have been held in Iran under various pretexts, but all of them mostly ended in vain. 

On September 16, 2022, protests broke out in Iran again, the reason for which was the death of the Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. On September 14, 2022 she was arrested by the “moral police” for wearing hijab incorrectly. According to the protesters, Amini was killed because of “the cruel treatment of Islamic regime”. Based on the official data, the cause of the death was the heart attack, however the witnesses of the arrest claimed that she was beaten with batons.   

The first protests erupted during the funeral of Mahsa Amini on September 16, in the administrative center of Sanandaj, Kurdistan, then spread rapidly, including Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Qom, Rasht, Sari, Karaj, Arak, Kermanshah, Urmia, Ardabil, Khorramabad and many other cities. In just a few days, the protests covered almost all the territory of Iran, but after a month-long process, they calmed down, however the actions of individual groups of protesters are still noticed.  

What do the protesters demand and how do the authorities respond? 

T he protests are the biggest wave of public dissatisfaction in Iran for several decades, and a serious challenge for the country’s authorities. At first, the protesters demanded to investigate and punish those guilty for the death of Amini, but gradually the nature of the slogans changed into political and anti-government, and power-change slogans began to be heard. 

Some women took off their hijab in solidarity, chanting “Death to the dictator” referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The participants of the protests covering almost all major cities of Iran organized and implemented various activities, including:

• Women took off their hijabs, chanting slogans against the police forces (1,2). 
• Civil activists of Iranian Kurdistan announced a general strike (1). 
• Materials were published on social networks, where a number of women and men cut their hair in protest (1,2,3).
• Students of Tehran, Tabriz, Amir Kabiri, Allameh Tabataba’i and other universities also organized protests (1,2,3,4,5,6,7).
• Protesters tore down and burned pictures of Ruhollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei, as well as general Qasem Soleimani from the walls of the city buildings (1,2,3,4).
• Protesters burned police buildings and cars in Tehran (1,2,3).

The reactions of Iran’s high-ranking officials about the situation in the country are basically the same (1,2,3,4,5,6,7). According to them, the protests are directed by external forces, and Mahsa Amini’s death is manipulated for political purposes. Iran’s police forces took a tough stance to prevent the spread of protests and disperse the actions, by arresting protesters and using water cannons. Moreover, the access to Instagram and WhatsApp was limited by the Supreme Council of National Security in Iran. Based on Western mass media, over 1500 protesters were arrested. According to the website of Iran’s Human Rights Organization, the total number of victims as a result of the protests reached 215. And according to another western source, at least 244 protesters and 28 members of security forces were killed.  

The main feature of protests

T he protests continued even when the government restricted Internet access. The authorities haven’t yet fully used all resources to finally disperse the protests, however there is no atmosphere of fear among protesters, which is a fundamental change in the social-political situation in Iran. 

Women’s central role in anti-government demonstrations. The active participation of women and the youth is one of the characteristics of the protests in Iran. “Women. Life. Freedom” became the main slogan of the protest. There haven’t been such large-scale protests involving women in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. For the first time, there is a neutral attitude towards the mandatory wearing of the hijab among a large number of supporters of state apparatus and religious ideology. (1) 

The female students’ and pupils’ participation in these actions, taking of their hijabs not only inside schools, but also on the streets, has become unprecedented. (1,2,3,4,5,)

Active participation of the youth. The latter actively participate in mass protests and call fellow citizens to strike and the councils of student unions issue relevant statements. Following the clash between student protesters and the police in the territory of Sharif University in Tehran on October 2, students and pupils started to organize various actions, activating the movement. Moreover, unlike the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential elections, the current actions are mainly attended by the youth, aged 18-35. According to various sources, 90 percent of the protesters are under 25.   

Today’s youth of Iran have a greater connection to the global information due to social networks. Tempted by the Western value system, they are sure that the current government is responsible for the situation in Iran, thus their speeches are directed against the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the political regime. 

 
Work strikes and schools strikes. After the beginning of the protests, there were professors’ and teachers’ strike in different cities of the country for several weeks. The workers of the oil industry, which is one of the key branches of Iran’s economy, also joined the strikes. Based on the published videos, in the early morning of October 10, the workers of the Bushehr petrochemical plants announced a strike and blocked the streets. According to the media, first, the workers of the large petrochemical plants of Bushehr, Damavand and Assaluyeh organized a strike. More than a thousand oil workers  participated in the protest. Later, the workers of Adaban, the country’s largest oil refinery joined the protest. “Now is the time for the widespread protest, get ready for the backbreaking strikes,” a committee representing contract oil workers said in a statement. “This is the beginning of the road and we continue our protests every day together with people all over the country”. 

The role of separatist elements. The separatist slogans, especially the pan-Turkic slogans, that are sounded during the protests deserve the most serious attention, which threatens not only the territorial integrity of Iran, but also in case of success, is a serious threat from the point of view of breaking the balance of power in the region. 

Taking advantage of the protests, some pan-Turkic separatist group in Iran chanted separatist slogans and tried to raise the so-called “South Azerbaijani” flag. Farsi-language pan-Turkic news websites actively cover the protests in Turkic-speaking regions for propaganda reasons, trying to present it as separatist. However, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the pan-Turkic-separatist groups in Iran are not so big and uncontrolled, as the mass media supporting these forces try to cover.

Currently, because of the internet restrictions and limited access to information in Iran, it is difficult to get a complete idea of the separatist elements. Based on the available data, we should state that the number of pan-Turkic-separatist groups and separatist slogans in the videos published on pan-Turkic TV channels are not a lot.  

It is noteworthy, that based on various published data, most of the victims were registered in Sistan and Beluchestan provinces of Iran, best-known for its high rate of separatism and crime. From the very beginning, under the government’s order, the security forces suppressed the separatist tendencies in a highly coordinated way, especially in the non-Persian-speaking Kurdistan, Beluchestan and Atropatene, where the significant part of the population has always been distinguished by the most centrifugal behavior. (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12)


How do these protests differ from previous ones? There have been protests in Iran since 1983, when wearing a hijab became mandatory for women, but the first unprecedented demonstrations broke out in July 1999, when the activity of a pro-reformist newspaper Salam was banned by the Iranian judicial system, which had the support of radical figures. The participants of these protests were mainly students, demanding a freedom of the press. 

In 2009, thousands of Iranians took to the streets after the presidential elections, considering the results as forged. However, the protests were held only in large cities of Iran and mostly with the participation of the middle class. Protests in Iran turned into riots and violence.
The next mass protests were caused by the economic recession and the inflation of gasoline in 2017 and 2019. Protests were held all around the country, but mostly the working class participated in it.

The vivid difference of the 2022 protests in dozens of cities and villages of Iran is the participation of all social and age groups. It is the first time since the Islamic revolution in the history of Iran, that there is a unity among various ethnic groups. In general, the slogans are the same. 

Economic and social problems in Iran formed the basis for the current protests and the political reasons became their catalyst. Iranian people are losing faith in the vary idea of the Islamic Republic. The historically low participation in the de facto pre-determined 2021 presidential elections and the number of invalid ballots, which even exceeded the number of votes of other candidates, were the first warning signals for the Iranian political system. 

In Iran, as in case of any wave of protest, foreign interference is currently evident. The Collective West, condemning the suppression of protests in Iran, expresses its full support to the Iranian protesters. The United States, Canada and the EU imposed a list of new sanctions “for brutally suppressing the protests and for restricting freedom of speech and information”. High-ranking US officials even openly state their desire to help the protesters in every possible way. 

The protests in Iran also gave Iran’s regional rivals Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia a good opportunity to interfere in Iran’s domestic affairs. Some high-ranking officials of the above-mentioned countries made statements condemning the actions of Iranian authorities, stating that Iran should find a balanced way to respect people’s freedom of speech and to maintain public order. ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) Moreover, in support of the Iranian protesters, protests took place in a number of Turkish cities, including in front of the Iranian consulate in Istanbul. Azerbaijan also took advantage of the situation, putting forward the thesis, as if “the people of South Azerbaijan are fighting against the Islamic regime of Iran”.

These are the first protests, lasting this long and having a wide geographical reach, relying on a significant social base, the youth, but their main difference is the demands of the protesters. Moving away from only economic demands, they want serious political changes, including the resignation of the regime. The protests also provoked non-Persian-speaking Iranians of Iranian Kurdistan, Atropatene and Beluchestan, making the protesters raise separatist issues, which is also dangerous. 

Though Iran is an Islamic republic in terms of its government, there is a deep anger among a significant part of the society towards the policies of the Islamic regime. Former presidents Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami have previously tried to reduce social restrictions and provide more democratic freedoms, but their efforts largely failed.

The demonstrations that have broken out in Iran for various reasons since 1999, have taken on an anti-regime look in a short time combined with calls for a change of power. The propaganda of Western values has had a great impact both in various Middle East countries and in Iran, however, one shouldn’t ignore the existence of a large mess in Iran, who truly believes in the inevitability of system change. In other words, from an ideological point of view, Iranian society is multi-layered. In this case, a significant part is represented by groups professing “liberal” ideas, and another part, which is also of a considerable weight, supports the survival of the Islamic system. The fact that the protests didn’t cover wider scales can actually be conditioned by the fact that the above-mentioned two groups are equal in power. The fact that there is still no such force or individual in Iran that can become a new revolutionary leader is also one of the main reasons for the low probability of success of the protests. The spontaneous protest, as well as the lack of systematic leadership and clearly defined goals do not allow to talk about the start of a new revolution. The logical sequence of the protests show that the time hasn’t come yet for a change of power in Iran, let alone a time for a systemic change.

Despite the strong pressures of the security forces, the protests still continue. This fact is one of the biggest problems faced by the Islamic regime since the 1979 revolution. Currently, the protests’ intensity and the existing dissatisfaction among the Iranian society suggests that the authorities cannot be limited only to economic and political reforms, but radical changes in other fields of public life will be necessary as well.