PARIS: The deadly collapse of a building in southwestern Iran has fueled anger over rising prices and economic deprivation, sparking protests that have now lasted three weeks and show no sign of abatement, observers say. have to say.
With video footage showing the use of bitter slogans against the government and even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the protests present an extremely delicate moment for the leadership of the Islamic republic.
Protests have been taking place in several Iranian cities since early May over the rise in prices of basic food items such as bread. But the collapse of the Abadan building added a new factor of uncertainty.
Iran’s senior analyst Qasra Arabi said, “The protests present a significant challenge to the Islamic Republic as people on Iranian streets are no longer blaming the government for their ills, but rather directly calling Ayatollah Khamenei and the clerical regime.” are.” at the Tony Blair Institute.
He said the protests are “increasingly widespread” in both cities and more rural areas and are led by the working class, usually the system’s base of support.
Regular protests centered in western and northwestern Iran, home to the country’s Arab and Kurdish minorities, had already been taking place for more than two weeks when a 10-storey building under construction in Abadan, Khuzestan province, collapsed on May 23.
According to the official toll, at least 36 people died in the tragedy caused by shoddy construction standards and corruption. But unconfirmed reports state that the actual number could be even higher and that the developer did not die, as was widely reported, but was allowed to escape.
According to Iranian opposition activists, the protests in Abadan have now continued for seven consecutive nights.
According to footage posted on social media accounts, slogans were raised targeting senior regime officials, including repeated slogans of “Khamenei’s death”. Hecklers in Abadan drowned out an address by an ayatollah with a call for “shameless”.
Protests have spread to other cities, including the Gulf center of Bushehr, where protesters broke with the Islamic Republic’s traditional chant of “death to America” with the slogan, “Our enemy is before us, they lie when they say it is. America is!”
The opposition group People’s Mujahideen said it had confirmed protests in several provinces outside Khuzestan, including Hormozgan province, Tehran, Isfahan province and Fars in the south.
Activists said that even before the collapse of Abadan had five confirmed deaths among protesters in mid-May, additional security forces were sent to the city using live fire to quell the protests.
“It shows that the Iranian regime is in an unstable and unstable position – any event that could lead to massive protests that could spiral out of control – so a building collapse is seen as a potential threat to the system.” It is,” said Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam. Director of the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights.
Abadan, close to the border with Iraq, is highly symbolic to Iranians. It was there that in 1978, on the eve of the Islamic Revolution, about 400 people were killed in an arson attack on a cinema whose doors were closed.
The fire at Cinema Rex, one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history prior to September 11, 2001, sparked protests against the Shah’s regime, although responsibility was never clarified.
Arabi said that the collapse of the Abadan building was acting as a “catalyst” to increase the size of the protests, but there was room for class divisions as well.
Activists say that like previous ups and downs of unrest in Iran in recent years – such as protests over fuel price hikes in November 2019 – authorities have deliberately slowed or cut internet access in affected areas.
Mahsa Alimardani, senior researcher in the Middle East region at Article 19 of the Freedom of Expression group, said the internet shutdowns during the current protests were highly localised.
“Anecdotal reports are actually supporting the fact that there are ongoing mobile shutdowns and disruptions in the areas where the protests are taking place,” he told AFP. Mobile and home internet were cut in Abadan at night, while the protests be performed.
Alimardani said it was important in these circumstances that global social media giants, especially Meta, do not censor video posts by protesters, especially those with graphic anti-regime slogans.
Meta-owned Instagram and WhatsApp are still not censored in Iran and are the most used applications. Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Telegram have all been blocked in the country.
“Protests are messy and complicated events, and censoring and policing speech is impossible,” she said, complaining of “countless cases of takedowns” that affect the Protest Documentation Network 1500 Pic, among others.
Anger of protest has spread to football, with fans of Tehran’s top team Esteghlal chanting “Abdan” at a recent match at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.
Team captain and national team star Voriya Ghafouri is meanwhile being boycotted by Iranian state media for allegedly supporting the protest in a post-match interview.
A group of Iranian filmmakers, led by award-winning director Mohamed Rasoulof, published an open letter calling on security forces to “lay down their arms” in protest of outrage over “corruption, theft, incompetence and repression” following the fall of Abadan.
Waves of protest were felt at the Cannes Film Festival when Irani Zar Amir Ibrahimi accepted her award for Best Actress.
The actress, who was forced to leave Iran after being the victim of a sex tape in 2006, said in tears, “My heart goes out to the men and women of Abadan.”