Protests, violence, hacking: Demonstrators defy Iranian leadership

In Iran, the political leadership has come together for a crisis meeting. Meanwhile, protests continue across the country. There were clashes with the security forces, in which there are said to have been dead again.

Because of the ongoing system-critical protests in Iran, the country’s political leadership has come together for a crisis meeting. According to the Office of the President, President Ebrahim Raisi, the Speaker of Parliament and the Head of the Judiciary also attended.

In a joint press release by the President’s Office, they called on the people to preserve national unity and to oppose “hostile conspiracies”. Iran’s supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had previously also described the anti-government protests as a foreign conspiracy.

Hacked state broadcaster shows protest call

Meanwhile, the daily newspaper “Schargh” reported that two channels of the state broadcaster IRIB had been hacked. According to “Schargh”, the news broadcasts were briefly interrupted on two channels and pictures of some of the women who died in the protests were shown. The slogan “Get up and join us” was shown.

The group Anonymous, which had already hacked various Iranian authorities in the past few weeks, is said to have been responsible for the hacking again.

Continued massive protests against the regime

According to eyewitnesses, the protests continued into the night. Accordingly, the willingness to use violence increased significantly on both sides. The police are said to have not only used tear gas against the demonstrators, but also shot them with paintball ammunition. The demonstrators reportedly threw Molotov cocktails at the officers and set mobile police stations on fire.

In the western Iranian city of Sanandaj, capital of Kurdistan Province, a young driver was reportedly shot in the head during a demonstration. The police stated that protesters shot him dead, who in turn blamed the police for the death.

Apparently strikes in several cities

The Iranian human rights group Hengaw said there were demonstrations and strikes in four cities after a call for mass demonstrations.

According to observers, the protests are increasingly taking the form of civil disobedience. Others also speak of a “digital revolution” because the recorded videos of the protest actions in the country are posted on social media. The demonstrators are reaching millions at home and abroad. This strategy makes it difficult for police and security forces to quell the protests.

The protests against the Islamic system are now in their fourth week. They broke out in mid-September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Since then, security forces have also used violence against demonstrators. According to civil rights groups, the protests have killed more than 150 people, injured hundreds, and arrested thousands.

Baerbock announces sanctions

Meanwhile, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) announced that further sanctions would be imposed on the regime in Tehran. “Anyone who beats up women and girls on the street, abducts people who want nothing more than to live freely, arbitrarily arrests them and sentence them to death is on the wrong side of history,” said Baerbock of the “Bild am Sonntag”.

“We will ensure that the EU imposes entry bans on those responsible for this brutal repression and freezes their assets in the EU. We say to the people in Iran: We will stand by you,” the Foreign Minister continued.