DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran on Saturday marked the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid nationwide anti-government protests and rising tensions with the West.
Thousands of Iranians marched through main streets and squares decorated with flags, balloons and placards with revolutionary and religious slogans. The military displayed Emad and Sejjil ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as Shahed-136 and Mohajer drones.
Protesters took to the streets in September after her 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman was arrested by the country’s deputies. These demonstrations initially focused on Iran’s obligatory headscarf, or hijab, but soon turned into a call for a new revolution.
In a speech at Azadi Square in the capital Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi referred to the protests as a project by Iran’s enemies to stop the nation from continuing its achievements.
Raisi called the celebration “epic” and a show of “national integrity” while praising post-revolution achievements in the country.
The remarks prompted the crowd to chant “Death to the U.S.”
Meanwhile, Telewebion, a web TV service affiliated with Iranian state TV, was briefly hacked during Raisi’s speech, Iranian media reported. The khabaronline.ir news website said the interruption lasted 19 seconds.
“Edalate Ali” or “The Justice of Ali,” hackers group in a 44-second video published on Twitter invited people to take part in nationwide protests next week and urged Iranians to withdraw their money from their banks. The video contained chants such as “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the Islamic Republic”, with a masked figure reading the message in a female voice. The group had previously hacked the infamous Evin Prison and other government facilities.
The anniversary comes two years after he officially restricted celebrations to vehicles in Iran due to a pandemic that has claimed more than 140,000 lives.
The procession in Tehran started from several points on Saturday and gathered in Azadi Square.TV showed crowds in many cities and towns, and hundreds of thousands of people said they had taken part. advertisement
The celebration was a show of strength for the demonstrators. State television has described the demonstrations as “foreign-backed riots” rather than domestic grievances over Amini’s death. It is also widespread for arming Russia with drones equipped with , which also angers the West.
The Iranian government has not provided information on the total number of deaths or arrests. But activists abroad say at least 528 people have been killed and 19,600 arrested in the ensuing raids.
Iran’s state media last week acknowledged for the first time the scale of the crackdown, saying the supreme leader had ordered pardons or commuted sentences for “tens of thousands” of people imprisoned during the protests.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s order is part of an annual amnesty granted by the supreme leader ahead of the anniversary, and authorities have yet to reveal how many people have been arrested at the demonstrations.
Referring to the amnesty, Raisi urged those “deceived by the enemy” to “return to the country” on Saturday, promising that his government would show them mercy as well
