Protesters In Iran Torch Khomeini’s Museum, Seminary In Qom
During intense unrest Thursday night, antigovernment protesters set fire to the house and museum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
During intense unrest Thursday night, antigovernment protesters set fire to the house and museum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
This was the ultimate act of defiance against the clerical regime that has failed to control nationwide protests since mid-September. The demonstrations have turned into a popular movement, reaching the farthest corners of the country, that simply aims to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
The demonstrations Thursday night commemorating those killed by government forces in the past few days drew into the night while protesters set fire to government buildings and seminaries.
In Khomein, the birthplace of Ayatollah Khomeini, people attacked and torched his family house which was turned into a museum in recent years. This unprecedented act of defiance became a sensation on Persian social media, with tens of thousands of people watching and sharing the video of the incident.
Videos show angry demonstrators also set fire to a seminary in the religious city of Qom near Tehran, as young people have targeted clerics in the street for verbal abuse and flipping their turbans off their heads.
Stones and Molotov Cocktails have become the main weapons for protesters who pelt anti-riot forces and set fire to large government propaganda banners in the streets. They also attack police stations and more often torch buildings used by the Revolutionary Guard’s Basij militia, who play a major role in attacking and killing protesters.
Government media said Friday that three Basij militiamen were killed Thursday in the religious city of Mashhad, while videos emerged showing other government agents wounded and running naked in the streets.
Overnight protests were also staged in scores of cities including Mashhad, Shahrekord, Masal, Sanandaj, Esfahan, Arak, Yazd, Saqqez, Lahijan, Bandar Abbas, Bijar, and Kermanshah. The geographic distribution of these cities covered from the northeast to the south and west of the country, with large protests also in central Iran.
Anit-regime slogans were chanted in tens of neighborhoods in capital Tehran.
Security forces fired live rounds and tear gas in several cities to crack down on the protesters.
In Bukan, people attacked government buildings torching a justice ministry office.Protesters in Rasht, also set fire to the office of a member of parliament.
Angered by killing of a 10-year-old child in Izeh in the oil-rich Khuzestan province, activist groups have called for mass protests across 20 cities on Friday.
According to Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization, at least 342 people including 43 children and 26 women had been killed by security forces in the ongoing nationwide protests until Wednesday.
Thousands have also been arrested in the last two months, with some being at risk of receiving death sentences for security-related charges.
Friday is expected to be another intense day of protests, as anonymous activists have called for continuing nationwide demonstrations until Monday, November 21.
A wide range of Iran-related topics were discussed during the session, including how the UK can help support the protesters, prevent the Islamic Republic from another round of mass executions like the ones in 1988, and how to deal with the threats posed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard both in the region and inside the UK.
The threats against Iran International and BBC Persian journalists were also mentioned by Conservative MP Bob Blackman, Shadow Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Bambos Charalambous, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Americas and Caribbean David Rutley, and Shadow Minister of State for Security Holly Lynch.
The MPs were concerned that President Raisi, who is one of the main culprits behind the 1988 prisoner massacre that led to the killing of thousands, will orchestrate a similar carnage in cooperation with the IRGC and the judiciary.
The MPs referred to the death sentences handed to several protesters this week and expressed concerns that a similar fate will be expected for a large number of protesters, particularly following a call by 227 Iranian parliamentarians who are pushing for the death penalty. Moreover, calls for proscription of the IRGC are getting stronger in the British political sphere as they are the main force that would go on with the purge.
So far, nearly 400 protesters have been reported dead – including about 50 children – and over 15,000 have been detained since the current wave of protests engulfed Iran following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, it was said. However, the figures are likely much higher, but the authorities do not release any data and obscure the ways for human right groups to obtain information.
Blackman said, “Contrary to the reports that the Minister mentioned, the reports I have are that more than 60,000 people have been arrested.” He added that “President Raisi, was responsible as the prosecutor in Iran for 30,000 executions of political prisoners in 1988, so the direction from the top is very clear... We are also aware that sentencing and executions are beginning in Iran, and that many thousands of people may end up being executed.”
Rutley argued that the threats to press freedom in Iran, now extended to the UK, were a sign of the regimes growing weakness in the face of ‘grassroots’ protests.
Describing the level of violence against protesters as “utterly appalling,” Rutley said, “The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, but it is all the more abhorrent when those sentenced are being arrested for standing up for their rights.”
He added that “the frequency of these death sentences is only likely to increase as the regime processes the thousands of arrests that have been made during the protests. The Iranian judicial system is notorious for its lack of transparency and process, and this barbarism is just one of many threatening and intimidating techniques that the regime has rolled out in response to the protests.”
Blackman was another MP that asked the government to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist group, but Rutley reiterated the government’s position of not commenting on potential proscriptions.
Speaking on behalf of the opposition, Charalambous and Lynch asked about the steps the UK Government is taking to protect journalists and UK nationals critical of the regime. In response, Rutley reiterated his previous points about summoning the Iranian Chargé d’affaires and the support being provided by the police.
Citing a report from MI5 of 10 assassination attempts on British residents this year, Lynch called for measures to remove the Islamic Republic-linked actors from the UK
She also asked what steps the government was taking to remove actors linked to the Iranian government from the UK citing a report from MI5 of 10 assassination attempts on British residents this year. Rutley’s response cited the Foreign Secretary’s warning to the Islamic Republic’s chargé d’affaires and promised that the Government would continue to monitor the situation.
Other contributors to the debate repeated Bob Blackman’s request about the need to proscribe the IRGC and for the Government to do more to support the protesters. Rutley’s responses made clear the Government’s support for the protesters, but they did not announce much by way of new measures.
In the past three days, the grassroot nature of the protests manifested itself in small towns, where people were almost unstoppable and brought the security forces to their knees.
Government forces have killed nearly 350 people since the protests began following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September, and each death has fueled more protests since holding mourning ceremonies and funeral services is culturally important for Iranians.
No day passes without some event in honor of one or more protesters in cities across Iran. In addition, hundreds of families also hold ceremonies for their loved ones who were killed three years ago during the November 2019 unrest when security forces began firing at people from the first day of protests, killing at least 1,500 citizens. Every one of these ceremonies is an opportunity for people to hold gatherings and express their resentment against the regime. Thursday was no exception as many funerals and mourning gatherings morphed into protest rallies.
Another new low for the clerical regime is killing children, whose deaths enrage Iranians even more and their funerals and mourning ceremonies bring out larger crowds. According to human rights groups, over 40 children were already killed by government agents until this week when security forces killed several more. Some children take part in the protests but many simply happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, when riot police or government vigilantes open fire.
Mourning ceremonies for a 10-year-old boy in the city of Izeh, in Khuzestan province, was one of the main events of the Thursday protests in several cities, as social media exploded with depictions inspired by his death.
In addition to pockets of protests in large cities, which have been scenes of protests and clashes during the past two months, more protesters turned out in towns with less than 50,000 population, blocking streets, chanting antigovernment slogans and setting fire to government buildings.
Law enforcement forces in small cities normally tend not to respond violently to the protesters because people in such cities usually know each other’s families. Many of the people who are now members of Basij paramilitary forces are cracking down on people who used to be their classmates or neighbors while they were growing up. Therefore, the regime transfers forces from other cities, but the strategy is only partially useful because outside forces do not know the localities as well as its residents, so they are easily outsmarted by the protesters, making towns fall under the control of the people.
On Thursday, some towns were scenes of clashes that earlier were not hotbeds of protests. Semirom and Khorasgan in Esfahan province, Paveh and Sarpol-e Zahab in Kermanshah, Khomein in Markazi Province, Eyvanki in Semnan, Khonj in Fars, Qorveh in Kordestan, Khoy in West Azarbaijan, Sarableh in Ilam, and Masal in Gilan were some of the small cities and towns whose residents held remarkable protest rallies on Thursday.
The cities that have become well-known for the bravery of their citizens were also among the places of biggest demonstrations. People on social media say Sanandaj witnessed its largest rally in the past two months.