Guillaume Dominguez, edited by Laura Laplaud 09h09, March 21, 2023

Iranians celebrated Nowruz on Monday evening, the Persian New Year, the most important holiday of the year in the country. Celebrations marred by the repression of the regime, the deaths, the thousands of prisoners and the anger that is increasingly rumbling in the country.

On Monday evening, at 22:14 CEST, Iranians celebrated Nowruz, the New Year of the Persian calendar. A tradition that is more than 2000 years old and marks the renewal and entry into spring. An event that comes against the backdrop of a revolutionary movement in the country since a wave of protests has shaken Iran since the arrest by the morality police and the death in custody, on September 16, 2023, of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman.

The protesters refute the official version that claims she died because of "cerebral hypoxia". The regime arrested thousands of supporters of the movement. Nearly six months after the beginning of the protest against the regime, how is the Iranian revolt evolving?

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In Iran, an atmosphere of permanent terror

At first glance, one might think that the revolution is dying little by little. The emblematic demonstrations organized every Friday have gradually ceased in the face of a particularly violent repression of the regime. "There was a lot of violence on protesters who were arrested. There have been many executions in prisons and this has created an atmosphere of terror, which has stifled the protests for now..." explains Mahnaz Shirali, a sociologist specializing in Iran.

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The shadow of repression still too great

The clashes gave way to cultural demonstrations, especially on social networks. A revolt more symbolic, but much more problematic since it opposes the ideas of the regime, according to Farhad Kosrokhavar Director of Studies in Social Sciences. "His ideology is martyrdom, it is the fact of sacrificing oneself to the regime in the name of Islam. And here there is a major contradiction with the joie de vivre of young people who express it without any reference to religion."

"The Iranian New Year will not change that," he said. The shadow of repression is still too great. For the researcher, only the exit of Ayatollah Khamenei from the political scene could bring about a profound change in the country.