Iran: A history of protests

Demonstrations in Iran have brought to mind waves of protests that have been repeated many times since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The most prominent of these protest waves are as follows:

September 1978: Massive protests, riots and strikes against the policies of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi erupted, ending with the departure of the Shah and his family into exile.

February 1979: Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 14 years in exile in Iraq and France for opposing the Shah's regime.

November 1979: Supporters of the Islamic Revolution detain 52 Americans inside the US embassy in Tehran, demanding the extradition of the shah, who was being treated in the United States, for trial in Iran.

Ten years later, 1989 marked a sensitive period in the Iranian landscape, and Iran experienced a political crisis, which was termed sedition, a description of the protests that followed the removal of the cleric Hossein Ali Montazeri from the position of deputy cleric.

Ten years later, in 1999 , Iran witnessed a new wave of protests after the authorities shut down the reformist newspaper Salam. Demonstrations began at Tehran University and were described as limited, but clashes with security forces led to riots in six days and the arrest of more than 1,000 students. Iranian police have used batons and tear gas to disperse the protesters.

Ten years later, in 2009, protests renewed, starting from Tehran and then moving to a number of other cities to protest the results of the presidential elections in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected for a second term, with the loss of Mir Hossein Mousavi. "The Green Revolution".

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians protested against the election results. Hundreds of reformers were arrested.

In December 2017, renewed demonstrations, the second most populous city of Mashhad after the capital Tehran, symbolized and then expanded to the rest of the Iranian regions, including Hamadan, Isfahan and Qom, demonstrations against the backdrop of economic demands after the increase in prices Consumables.

The beginning was through invitations conveyed by social media pioneers to participate in a demonstration under the slogan "No to expensive".

November 2019: A new wave of protests erupts in Iran after the National Oil Company raised gasoline prices by 50% to 60 liters per month, and by 300% to those who exceed the monthly state-backed quota.

The protests caused deaths and injuries among protesters and security forces, and angry protesters burned more than 100 banks and 50 shops within days.

Officials accused unnamed third parties of seeking to disturb public order, arrested about 1,000 demonstrators since last Friday, and blocked Internet access in the country.