A Review of Public Protests Following Iran’s Islamic Revolution; From Struggles Against Mandatory Hijab to Demands for Living Standards

Kourosh Aladin – Public protests are a natural occurrence throughout the world and a recognized right in the United Nations Charter of Human Rights. In any society or country, it is possible that some group—whether a minority or majority—may lodge a protest or demand regarding a particular issue, law, or social condition.

Sometimes these protests are accompanied by violence and destruction, and sometimes they end peacefully. However, it is always the way the authorities handle these protests that draws attention. Typically, in countries with dictatorial governments, public protests are severely suppressed, while in free governments, as long as protests do not escalate to destruction of public property and violence, they are met with police tolerance.

Although Article 27 of the Islamic Republic’s Constitution explicitly emphasizes the freedom to “hold social gatherings and marches without carrying weapons,” in practice and based on the history of protests in Iran, this article has been overlooked in most cases.

• Women, the First Protesters After the Revolution

The first public protest in the history of the Islamic Republic was women’s protest against mandatory hijab, which occurred 25 days after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, in the month of Esfand in 1357 (1979), coinciding with International Women’s Day.

This protest was triggered by the publication of a speech by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as the front-page headline in the “Ettela’at” newspaper dated 16 Esfand 1357. In this article titled “The Imam’s View on the Hijab,” it stated: “Right now the ministries, as they have been reported to me, still have the same form of tyranny. In Islamic ministries, women cannot come without covering. Women should go out, but they must wear the hijab.”

The publication of this article was accompanied by scattered marches both for and against the mandatory hijab. The next morning, on 17 Esfand, female employees who were not wearing hijabs were not allowed entry to their workplaces.

Simultaneously, a gathering was held at the “University of Tehran” on the occasion of International Women’s Day, and the demonstration spread outside the university, but halfway through it encountered violence from members of the “Islamic Revolution Committee.” Men who chanted “Either the veil or your head!” attacked the rows of protesters against mandatory hijab and even resorted to firing warning shots to disperse the protesters.

On Friday, the 18th of Esfand, this violence was attributed to “counter-revolutionary” individuals and it was announced that those who harassed women would be severely punished.

However, in the following days, this situation continued. On Saturday, women from the “Judiciary” and “National Radio and Television” gathered, which was again met with violence and warning shots. That day’s headline in the Ettela’at newspaper referred to an interview with Seyyed Mahmoud Taleghani titled “Regarding the Hijab, There is No Compulsion in the Matter.”

These protests against mandatory hijab continued in other Iranian cities as well. However, gradually, and especially after Taleghani’s death, the hijab became mandatory for women.

• June 1981 (Khordad 1360)

The June 1981 protests began with the “Islamic Consultative Assembly” raising questions about the political inadequacy of Abolhassan Banisadr, the president at the time, and were organized by the “Mojahedin-e Khalq” organization.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wrote in his memoirs that “On Sunday, the 17th of Khordad, to prevent the distribution of Banisadr’s statement, the newspapers Islamic Revolution, Mihan, National Nation, People, and National Front were temporarily shut down by order of the Supreme Judicial Council. It became clear that a decision had been made not to broadcast this statement on radio and television either… On Saturday, the 30th of Khordad, from 4 p.m. when Banisadr’s incompetence was announced, groups of Mojahedin, Peykar, Ranjeesh, and a minority of Fedayeen took to the streets to create chaos and engaged in military confrontation with committees and the Revolutionary Guards.”

Jalal Montazeri, one of the members of the Mojahedin group, told the BBC: “The gathering on Valiaser Street, between Taleghani and Revolution, was attacked several times by armed men with batons…”

Fereydoun Nemati, another member of the Mojahedin group, says: “When we entered Taleghani Street, it became clear that the regime was prepared in advance for confrontation. The attack on the crowd initially began with motorcyclists wielding batons… Then several minibuses and buses brought forces that were all armed with cold and hot weapons.”

These clashes occurred in various Iranian cities such as Isfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, and others, and it was reported that in Tehran there were 50 deaths and around 200 wounded.

The June 1981 clashes, according to many analysts, were an event that brought political contradictions to an irreversible stage.

• The Seventies Decade and the Beginning of Popular Movements

At the beginning of the 1990s (Persian calendar), with the implementation of “economic adjustment” policy after the war and inflation rising to 49.4 percent, a major economic shock hit Iran’s economy. The effects of this economic shock impacted the living standards of people and in several cases drove people to the streets.

• Mashhad

On the 9th of Khordad 1371 (1992), the decision to demolish part of the neighborhood known as “Koy-e Tollab of Mashhad” by bulldozers faced opposition from residents of “Tabari Street.” According to reports, during these clashes, a student was shot by officials, and this was the beginning of a widespread and violent protest.

The next day, Revolutionary Guard forces were sent to the area and with a bloody crackdown, this incident finally ended. Official authorities never announced statistics on the wounded and killed in this incident.

• Qazvin

In Mordad 1373 (1994), the plan for Qazvin to become a province failed to pass in parliament and provoked public protests. This protest began with protesters blocking provincial roads, and quickly escalated into violence with police intervention.

Angry people damaged several cinemas and banks, and the situation spiraled out of control of police authorities. This time the Revolutionary Guards, with the “Sayyid al-Shuhada” brigade, entered the field, and a massive wave of armed crackdown and arrests ensued, bringing this protest to an end.

• Islamshahr

The people of Islamshahr, who were from the low-income segment of society, protested against rising prices, particularly the increase in taxi fares. However, the spark for this movement started in the village of “Akbarabadi” in protest against water rationing and quickly spread to other villages and towns. The protesting people, having received no satisfactory response from local authorities and the municipality, blocked the Saveh-Chahardan road.

After two days of confrontation between people and police, finally the “Tharallah” brigade of the Revolutionary Guards and riot police entered the field and suppressed the protest. One eyewitness told “Al-Arabiya Farsi” about the incident: “From 7 to 8 p.m. the area looked like a war zone. Smoke from burning tires and pools of blood on the ground and the sound of machine gun fire. There was no trace of street vendors from Chahardan, and even taxi drivers were absent… This clash lasted three to four days and security forces suppressed the people from the sky and ground.”

• University Avenue: A New Chapter in the Student Movement

Undoubtedly, among the various events of the 1990s (Persian calendar), one of the most important events regarding protest movements was the “University Avenue” incident.

In 1378 (1999), the Cultural Commission of the Fifth Parliament approved a bill entitled “Amendment to the Press Law”; a law that, in the opinion of some newspapers and political activists, would extend the shadow of tyranny over the press. The newspaper “Salam” published a confidential document from the Ministry of Intelligence with the headline “Saeed Emami Proposed Amendment to the Press Law.”

On the 17th of Tir, newspapers reported the closure of the Salam newspaper. The first gathering in protest of the shutdown of Salam newspaper took place at 9 p.m. in front of the Tehran University student dormitory and ended peacefully after a few hours.

However, at dawn on the 18th of Tir, “plainclothes” agents along with some security officers attacked University Avenue and beat and arrested a number of students.

This attack was the beginning of several days of widespread student and people protests in many cities of the country that continued until the 23rd of Tir.

The scope of this movement was so widespread in public consciousness that it led Mostafa Moin, the Minister of Science, to resign from his position. Later, a fact-finding committee was also set up by the government to investigate this matter.

Some officials of the Islamic Republic, even now, years after that incident, continue to try to attribute this to a deviant movement. For example, Alireza Zakani, the current mayor of Tehran, told the Tasnim news agency on the twentieth anniversary of this incident: “The attack on University Avenue was a sedition in continuation of the path of serial killings.”

Like other protest events, no official statistics on the number of killed, wounded, and arrested from the University Avenue incidents were ever released. However, the fate of at least two arrested students from those protests remains unknown: Farshte Alizadeh and Saeed Zeinali.

• The Green Movement

With the end of the 2009 presidential election and the announcement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory, Mir-Hossein Mousavi rejected the election results and three days later, on the 25th of Khordad 1388 (June 15, 2009), called on supporters and protesters of the election results to participate in a large gathering.

This march, which according to some observers was the largest non-government march after the 1979 revolution, escalated into violence when some Basij forces opened fire. Unlike other protest movements, this time cell phones provided an opportunity to capture events and share them with global audiences via the Internet.

Images of the death of a 27-year-old young woman named Neda Agha-Soltan made her a symbol of people’s struggle during that period. The government quickly restricted and in some cases completely cut off the Internet and rapidly expelled foreign journalists from Iran to prevent the spread of this news. However, the scope of this protest, unlike previous protests, was more widespread. Protesters took advantage of every opportunity and government ceremony to appear in the streets.

From Quds Day to the death of Hosseinali Montazeri and even Ashura and Tasua of that same year, which was one of the bloodiest days of this uprising. According to official statistics, at least 12 people died in Tehran on Ashura. The scale of the crackdown was so extensive that Mir-Hossein Mousavi explicitly referred to “throwing innocent people off bridges and heights, shootings, running people over, and assassinations.”

The media dimensions of this incident provoked an international reaction. However, the government announced the end of this protest movement by holding a march on the 9th of Dey of that year, and ceremonies are held annually on the anniversary of this event.

• Unorganized Protests

The 1390s (2010s, Persian calendar) included widespread protests. Increased economic pressure, narrowing space for criticism, and hopelessness about the future had a significant impact on the nature of protests in the 2010s (Persian calendar).

• December 2017 (Dey 1396)

Ali Motahari, a former parliament representative, said: “The origin of these protests was within the government, but it quickly spiraled out of control.”

The December 2017 protests began in Mashhad. But they quickly spread, their nature changed, and they rapidly targeted the core of the system. One of the most famous slogans of that protest movement was “Reformists, conservatives! The story is over.”

Some experts described these protests, which spread rapidly across the country without any organization, as “protests by the vulnerable and neglected sectors of society.” But these protests were also suppressed with full force. Again, no statistics on the number of killed and arrested were released, but the formation of groups like “Mourning Mothers” indicates that the number of deaths in this protest movement was not small.

• The Bloody November

On the 24th of Aban 1398 (November 15, 2019), the reinstatement of gasoline rationing and a sudden 200 percent increase in fuel prices shocked the people.

Some drivers, in a protest action, turned off their cars on the streets to display their protest. However, with the crackdown by security forces, the November 2019 protests quickly became one of the bloodiest incidents since the revolution.

The Islamic Republic, which had experienced international pressure following the spread of images of violent crackdowns in 2009, suddenly cut off the entire Internet and with the most severe possible measures suppressed these protests. Protests that lasted three days, but according to the latest statistics from “Amnesty International,” resulted in at least 323 deaths and according to “Reuters” around 1,500 deaths. Among the dead, at least 10 women and 22 children are notable. Reports state that most deaths resulted from gunshot wounds to the head or upper body.

Finally, the government provided no statistics on deaths, wounded, or arrests either.

Recently, a people’s court was held in the city of London by three human rights organizations “Justice for Iran,” “Iran Human Rights,” and “Together Against the Death Penalty” on the second anniversary of this bloody crackdown, and given the large volume of witnesses and evidence not yet released, these documents are to be collected over the next three months. The purpose of this court is to examine the dimensions of this bloody crackdown and investigate the possibility of committing “crimes against humanity” by the Islamic Republic government.

Source: Voice of America