<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/11/iran-protests-gather-momentum-demonstrators-protest-movement>
"Sarah felt she had little left to lose. A 50-year-old entrepreneur in Tehran,
she watched as prices soared higher while her freedoms shrank each year.
So, when protesters started gathering in the high-end Andarzgoo neighbourhood
of Tehran on Saturday night, she was quick to join them. In a video sent to the
Guardian via her cousin who lives abroad, people walk through the street,
joyous, despite a halo of teargas hanging over their heads.
The crowd was mixed, with families, elderly people and men walking side by
side. The mood was calm, until security forces approached, raised their assault
rifles and began to shoot at the unarmed protesters at close range.
The next video she sent was hurried. “Shameless!” she repeated again and again
as she drove away, the crackle of gunshots audible as people hurry past.
On Thursday, Iran went dark. Authorities shut down the internet and the ability
to call abroad, cutting the country off from the rest of the world. The
government’s rhetoric, initially conciliatory, quickly changed. Gone were the
offers of dialogue, replaced by threats of death sentences for protesters, who
the government accused of being backed by Israel and the US.
What happened next was documented in grainy videos and panicked messages
ferried out of the country by activists who managed to grab a momentary
Starlink connection before GPS scrambling shut their line down.
Crowds of thousands have marched across the country each night, chanting “death
to the dictator”, a reference to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
and for the return of the Pahlavi dynasty, which ruled Iran before the 1979
revolution.
A 19-year-old student activist said on Friday: “We are marching in thousands
tonight. I saw children on the shoulders of their parents, a grandmother
chanting ‘Death to Khamenei’ while she’s decked up in a chador [black robe]. Do
you realise how significant this is?”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
