Iranian Diaspora Demanding Western Support Amid Protests

In an article on Sunday, Iran Daily, a government mouthpiece, dismissed the 100,000 number of protesters cited by independent media, claiming that the crowd was so small it could not even fill the main venue in Berlin.

This comes as videos of the gathering showed a countless number of people not only around the main square but also in the adjoining streets.

German police said over 80,000 took part in the anti-regime protest and many international TV channels called it the largest demonstration of Iranians in history.

The author of Iran daily’s piece also claimed that “terrorists and [non-Iranian] Europeans” had received money to participate in this gathering, without presenting any evidence.

According to the report, “the extensive planning and large expenses for setting up an anti-Iranian demonstration in Berlin turned into a complete failure.”

Some activists commented that since all pro-government rallies in Iran are organized by substantial expenditures to bus people in and give them food that Tehran officials assume a protest in the West also needs a lot of money.

Meanwhile, Nour News, which is close to the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said if the claims by the Persian-speaking media based abroad are true, “they barely could comprise two to four percent of the Iranians living in Europe.”

Referring to it as a “fiasco”, it argued that “most of the rally participants were homosexuals, MEK members, separatists, monarchists and anarchists.”

“It is better for the West to focus on its own political, economic and security problems rather than creating sedition in other countries, so that their people do not suffer from inflation, food scarcity and gas shortage,” added Nour News.

This comes as experts have predicted a 50 percent inflation for Iran in 2023 and tens of millions have fallen into poverty.

While it is estimated that a family of three needs $600 a month to survive, the minimum wage stands at around $200 according to Labor representatives.

Based on a recent report by Salam-e- No website about 66 million of Iran’s 84-million population are living under the poverty line.

Terrified by the big turnout in Berlin, Javan daily, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, warned Germany of consequences for allowing people to hold a massive demonstration in Berlin against the Islamic Republic.

Afkarnews, another website that tried to devalue the Berlin demonstration said that “the organizers used people of different nationalities and homeless people who even did not know where Iran is geographically located.”

Such claims come at a time when the Islamic Republic is well known for forced confessions and using mercenaries to crack down on antigovernment protests.

The artwork was comprised of 12 long red banners with black stencil photos of Amini as well as the main slogan of the current wave or protests -- Women, Life, Liberty – hanging from the top floor to about four stories down in the vast well hole of the museum’s spiral stairway. 

Iranian-born New York-based artist Shirin Neshat shared a photo of the piece in her Instagram page, saying she is proud of the brave artists “who made a surprise protest by hanging this beautiful display today, they are the conscience of the sleepy art world who cares little for Iranian women fighting for basic human rights and freedom.”

Countless artworks have been created by Iranian and foreign artists in support of the current wave of the protests and numerous celebrities have expressed their solidarity with the Iranian protesters. Since the death of Mahsa Amini in custody of the hijab enforcement agents – or the so-called morality police – daily protests and strikes have convulsed the Islamic Republic. 

The regime’s repression agents have been committing heinous atrocities such as arresting and killing children and young adults, who have become the icons of the uprising and are extensively featured in songs, illustrations, paintings and murals all over the world. 

In an article published Saturday night, the IRGC’s Javan newspaper described the massive Berlin rally — where 100,000 people called for a revolution in Iran — as “a clear interference and support for regime-change seekers by Germany,” vowing it will not remain unanswered by Iran and will cost Germans dearly.

Rattled by the huge protest rally in the German capital, the paper claimed that many of the participants were not Iranians who were paid to attend the gathering. It also said many of the protesters were transferred from nearby countries in exchange for free food and accommodation.

The threatening article came a few days after Iranian state media reported that a German citizen was detained during the antigovernment protests in the northwestern city of Ardabil, where security forces beat to death at least one schoolgirl earlier in the month when students refused to attend a pro-regime rally.

The massive Freedom Rally for Iran in Berlin was described as the biggest gathering of Iranian protesters across the world. People from all corners of the continent traveled to Berlin with buses, trains and planes to voice support for their fellow-countrymen struggling against government brutality.

Protesters carried the pictures of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who was killed in the custody of Iran’s ‘morality police’, as well as those who lost their lives in the nationwide protest movement since mid-September. They also unfurled a large Iranian pre-revolution national flag, which has become a symbol of rejecting the Islamic Republic.

British-Iranian actress and human rights activist Nazanin Boniadi shared some of the blocked pages on her twitter account on Sunday, asking Meta why Instagram is suspending their accounts for no reason.

“Fix your algorithms. This is outrageous,” Boniadi said.

Saman Arbabi, one of the activists, said that Instagram suspended his account “for doing absolutely nothing wrong other than posting videos” of Iranian protests from across the world.

A newspaper in Tehran, Arman Melli said on Sunday that while the Iranian government has blocked Instagram and WhatApp for the people since the current protests began in mid-September, senior clerics and officials still have access to these platforms.

British comedian and activist Chelsea Hart said in a video that Instagram demonetized all her videos for posting about the protests in Iran, adding that the media platform also withheld her creator fund from before her posts were demonetized. “Every single video that has gotten me in trouble has been specifically to do with Iran,” she said, noting that the videos were flagged without any guidelines about the videos.

“They’re suppressing my stuff big time and it is almost expressly to do with Iran. These platforms are absolutely trying to dissuade people from doing activism on Iran,” she said.

Boniadi, who recently held a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss how to support the protesters and striking workers in Iran, added that “Chelsea isn’t the only one,” calling on the American company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to provide explanations.

In June, three human rights groups also called on Meta to review its Persian-language content review procedures.

In July, Iranian women's rights activist Masih Alinejad wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post recounting issues she faced with Instagram including loss of access to Instagram’s ‘live’ feature. She said this happened right after she posted a video of a confrontation on a city bus in Tehran between a hijab-wearing woman and another who refused to cover her head.

Asked by the Washington Post to comment, an Instagram representative had said the restriction “was placed on Masih’s account incorrectly because of a technical issue,” explaining that the platform automatically issues restrictions “when our systems detect spammy behavior.” The representative added: “It is against our policies to take action on accounts at the request of the Iranian government.”

But the issue could be more convoluted than Instagram 'taking orders' from the Iranian government. BBC reported in May that Iranian moderators working for a Meta subcontractor in Germany, Telus International, might be connected with the Iranian government and taking instructions from Tehran.

A top Iranian official said Sunday that blocking these apps was a decision taken by top leaders.

“The issue of lifting filters [on WhatsApp and Instagram] is the mandate of the National Security Council. One of the preconditions is that these two platforms should appoint representatives inside Iran and abide by the country’s laws and regulations. The NSC’s initial understanding is that these two platforms disrupt the security of the people,” Brigadier-General Gholamreza Jalali told reporters on the sidelines of the National Urban Defense Seminar Sunday.

“During the recent events these two platforms had some kind of coordination with the enemy abroad, the MEK, and the Zionist regime and this has been proven. Therefore the NSC decided to stop their activities as long as it thinks there is no assurance about the security of the country,” he added.

Anonymous activists calling themselves Tehran Youth have been calling for twice weekly demonstrations on Saturdays and Wednesdays, with mostly young people responding to the call.

The first gatherings were reported in Tehran’s universities, hotbed of youth protests in the country, in a movement largely led by the Z Generation.

But this Saturday there is a parallel large rally of Iranian in Europe taking place in Berlin, with people from distant part of the continent traveling to the German capital in what is expected to be a 50,000-strong protest.

Top Iranian political, military and religious figures have toughened their rhetoric against protesters in the past two days, with Friday Prayer Imams asking the government to show no mercy to “rioters”. This shows the shock felt by an authoritarian elite entrenched in power for 43 years that is adept in using full violence against wave of protests since 2009. A whole elite of a few thousand families representing clerics, military and political officials control 80 percent of Iran’s economy, imposing religious restrictions and presiding over deepening poverty for tens of millions of others.

After weeks of street protests, industrial and teachers’ strikes have begun, which herald more bad news for a governing system that has left no recourse for the populace to express its dissatisfaction.

For more than 10 days, strikes have been spreading in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors in southern Iran, with signs that natural gas production providing 70 percent of domestic energy needs might have declined. Teachers have also called for a two-day strike on Saturday and Sunday.

Our live coverage below presented news and videos as we received them from Iran and also Berlin.

Our coverage last 8 hours and ended at 00:40 local time on Sunday.

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Someone shouting from an apartment complex at security forces below, "Bastards, this is the end."

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Protests in Tehran's working class district, Nazi Abad. The voice says "Tehran is ours. Who said it belongs to them."

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Security forces firing at protesters in the southwestern city of Dezful.

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A police kiosk set on fire in Orumiyeh (Urmia), northwest Iran with a Molotov cocktail.

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Special unit police forces dispersing people in Esfahan, not allowing any person to stop in the street.

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Residents of Tehran's Ekbatan district protest, chanting, "Women, Life, Liberty".

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Women protesting in Tehran by removing their headscarves and waving it to security forces.

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Protest early evening in Mazanderan province, northern Iran where people burned a police banner and set fire to a morality police kiosk.

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A teachers' union in Iran has published the names of 30 children killed during protests that started on September 16. Eleven children shot by security forces were from Zahedan, southeastern Iran, seven from Kurdish regions and three were Afghans living in Iran. The United Nations and human rights organizations had urged Tehran to stop assaults on children. Security forces have been raiding schools and beating and arresting students who showed any sign of dissent.

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Parts of Tehran turned into scenes resembling a war zone Saturday night. Tear gas blanket a street as security forces tried to disperse protesters.

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Another video from Dezful in southwestern Iran Saturday evening shows protesters marching and then gunshots ring out.

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Late evening and night time is the popular time for protests in Iran because darkness helps the protesters. This video is from Tehran Pars district east of the capital.

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Protest in the central city of Arak, where gunshots are heard and people start running.

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Protests in Mashhad earlier on Saturday. Due to internet disruption by the government, people are unable to easily access social media.

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Text reports say protests were underway late afternoon in the western city of Saqqez, with access to Internet blocked by the government and people not able to upload videos. Saqqez is the birthplace of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who was killed at the hands of the 'hijab police in mid-September. Her death triggered the current protests.

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Protesters set up barricades on the roads in Mehabad, a mainly Kurdish town.

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Gunshots are heard in Dezful, in the oil-rich Khuzestan province.

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A new wave of protests as darkness fell in Iran on Saturday. The video below shows Shariati street in Tehran.

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First video of a protest after evening darkness in Tehran on Saturday.

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A woman climbed a pole at a busy intersection in Tehran removing her headscarf and chanting against Iran's ruler Ali Khamenei.

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A noisy protest in Tehran's downtown Lalehzar Avenue, with demonstrators chanting "death to the dictator".

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Retail businesses on strike near Karaj, 20 miles west of Tehran on Saturday.

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The full picture of a huge crowd of Iranians gathered for a rally in Berlin, Germany on Saturday afternoon can be seen in this video at around 15:00 local time.

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Reports from Tabriz, capital of West Azerbaijan province say fierce protests are taking place on Saturday afternoon, with "a war like" atmosphere. No details available yet about clashes with security forces, at 17:30 local time.

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In one part of Tehran protesters chant "Death to the dictator" early Saturday afternoon.

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The video below shows police attacking a protester in Mashhad, as plainclothesmen join the assault, while other protesters try to help their comrade.

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According to preliminary reports, tens of thousands of Iranians have gathered in Berlin, Germany, Saturday afternoon for a large protest demanding an end to authoritarian rule and respect for human rights in Iran. The photo below is from Reuters.

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This interesting video from the western city of Sanandaj shows the heavy presence of special forces, some carrying AK-47 assault rifles instead of the usual shotguns carried and used during protests. The video was taken Saturday morning apparently before any protests. Sanandak, a largely Kurdish city has been a hotbed of protests for more than a month.

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Student protest in Razi University of Kermanshah, western Iran.

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Students at Tehran's Technical University march and chant on campus Saturday morning.

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Students at the faculty of Art and Architecture in the University of Yazd chanting "Freedom, freedom" Saturday morning.

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Student protests Saturday morning in the University of Tehran.

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Student gathered on the campus of the University of Tabriz to protest. Just two ago there were large demonstrations in the northwestern city.

Another large protest by students of Tabriz Medical University Saturday morning.

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Protests around midday in Mashhad a religious center and second largest city in Iran.

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