Anti-corruption Protests Spread From Tehran To Other Iranian Cities
27 December 2017
EsinIslam And
Agencies
Rallies against corruption in high places spread Thursday from Tehran to sweep
up an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 more demonstrators in Mashhad, Urmia near the
Turkish border and Arak between Tehran and Isfahan. DEBKAfile, reporting on
the rising wave of Iranian popular protest, noted that they are becoming
increasingly political. Placards were calling "Death to Rouhani" and groups
shouted in chorus: "No to Syria! No to Lebanon! No to Gaza!" and "Corruption
is everywhere!" In Mashhad, demonstrators gathered outside the residence of
supreme leader, Khamenei's favorite for president, Ebrahim Raisi, who heads
the Astan Quds Razavi, Khamenei's personal financial organ.
The anti-corruption protests first erupted in the capital, Tehran, outside
Khamenei's residence, with the slogan on placards asking, "Where is the
money?" It was a reference to the vast sums released to Iran by the Obama
administration for signing the 2015 nuclear accord. The government clamped gag
orders on the event and ordered the large numbers of Revolutionary Guards
officers mobilized to act with restraint and refrain from making arrests. The
protests then began spreading.
Thousands protest high prices in Iran's Mashhad
Several thousand residents protested high prices and denounced President
Hassan Rouhani across Iran, including the nation's second-largest city,
Mashhad, on Thursday.
In the northern Iranian city, protesters shouted 'Death to Rouhani' and 'Death
to the dictator' and 'If you stop one case of embezzlement, our problem will
be solved.'
They also held banners opposing Iran's interference in the Arab region,
including troops and funds sent to assist Syria's government. They chanted,
'Forget about Syria, think about us.'
Besides protests in city of about 3 million, demonstrations took place in
cities that included Neyshabur, Kashmar, Birjand, Shahrood and Noshahr. And
last week demonstrations took place in Isfahan against high unemployment.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran said forces were stationed in
Mashhad but protesters pushed them away. The security forces then opened fire
and launched tear gas at demonstrators. The protesters resisted, returning
tear gas to the forces.
Maryam Rajavi , president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran,
called on all the people, especially the youth, to support Mashhad's uprising.
'The heroic uprising of today in large parts of Iran has once again proved
that the overthrow of the mullahs' regime and the establishment of democracy
and the rule of people is a national and public demand,' she said in a
statement.
A call for 'no to high prices' protests appeared on social media.
'While the overwhelming majority of the people of Iran are suffering from
poverty, inflation and unemployment, most of the country's wealth and revenues
is spent on military and security apparatuses and military and regional
interventions, or is being looted by the regime leaders or goes into their
bank accounts,' Rajavi said. 'Therefore, so long as this regime is in power,
the economic and living conditions of the people become worse and the only
solution to get rid of economic and social problems is to overthrow the
clerical regime.'
Prices of staples, including eggs, have risen by up to 40 percent recently,
which farmers attribute to higher prices for imported feed, Iran Freedom
reported.
Uprisings of Kermanshah, Mashhad and other cities are death knell to the
corrupt mullahs' dictatorship
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi , President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, saluted the
heroic people of Kermanshah and other cities who rose up today with the
slogans "death or freedom", "death to Rouhani", "death to the dictator", and
"political prisoners must be freed", and protested against high prices,
poverty and corruption. She said, "Yesterday Mashhad, today Kermanshah, and
tomorrow throughout Iran; this uprising has tolled the death knell for the
overthrow of the totally corrupt dictatorship of the mullahs, and is the rise
of democracy, justice and popular sovereignty.
Mrs. Rajavi called on all the people, especially the youth and women
throughout the country, to join the 'No to High Prices' uprising, saying that
"the corrupt dictatorship of the mullahs will undoubtedly fail against your
national unity and solidarity, resistance and continuity of your rightful
uprisings."
She added that the four decade record of the mullahs' rule has been nothing
but inflation, poverty and corruption, torture and execution, killings and
aggression. The bulk of the people's wealth, including the money released in
the nuclear deal, is either spent on repression and export of terrorism and
war, or is plundered by the regime's leaders. The overthrow of the religious
fascism is the first step to get out of the crisis that is intensifying every
day.
She said that the mullahs' regime has no future; investment on it is doomed to
failure, and it is time for the international community to not tie their fate
to this regime and recognize the Iranian people Resistance to overthrow that
regime.