One person whose family member was arrested told Voice of America that judicial authorities are not even accepting bail for the release of detainees. According to him, it appears that the leader’s directive to deal with protesters has made it difficult to secure their release.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday, Tir 6, one day after news of the arrest of several protesters in market gatherings in Tehran was released, told judicial officials in a meeting with the judiciary that “the judicial system must definitely deal with those who disrupt economic security.”
Market Protests
Strikes and marches in Tehran began on Monday from the cloth merchants’ bazaar; merchants on the main bazaar strip, Chahar Soo, and Saraye Qaysariyeh closed their shops and subsequently other merchants also stopped work.
Based on released videos, after closing their shops, merchants marched and chanted slogans including “Our enemy is right here, they lie that it’s America” and “Death to freeloading fat-necked ones.” This gathering subsequently faced police confrontation and tear gas in some areas. Some protesters also chanted “Reza Shah, may your soul rest in peace.”
Protests continued on Tuesday in some areas of Tehran’s bazaar and central streets of Tehran.
On Sunday, following a sudden increase in the free dollar rate to over 8,000 tomans and approaching 9,000 tomans, mobile phone sellers in two main markets for this commodity in Tehran, Ala al-Din Passage and Chahar Soo, closed and gathered their shops in protest of rising prices and currency rate fluctuations.
US Response
These protests prompted a response from the US Secretary of State.
The United States Secretary of State, in his latest response to the new wave of protests in Iran, wrote in a tweet criticizing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s support for terrorist groups in the region that the world hears the voice of the Iranian people’s protest.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on his Twitter on Wednesday morning, Tir 6: “The corrupt Iranian regime wastes the country’s resources by supporting Assad, Hezbollah [Lebanon], Hamas and the Houthis [Yemen], while Iranian families suffer.”
Mr. Pompeo added: No one should be surprised at the continuation of protests. People are tired of the corruption, injustice, and incompetence of their leaders. The world hears the voice of the [Iranian] people.
This is the latest response from the US Secretary of State to protests in Iran.
Other images also indicated that merchants from Mashhad, Kermanshah, Arak, Qeshm and several other cities also closed their shops.
