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Iranian commandos carried out a surprise nighttime massacre on protesters in the town of Rasht in northern Iran over two nights this month, an eyewitness told Iran International, killing hundreds and ultimately consigning its historic bazaar to ashes.
Now back in Germany, Bardia, an Iranian student based in Berlin who was present in Rasht during the crackdown, described the scenes on January 8 and 9 in an interview with Iran International as “a war zone."
Up until what has now been dubbed “bloody Thursday," he explained, confrontations between protesters and security forces had been subdued while demonstrations were scattered and limited.
But around 6 PM, he and his friends suddenly saw crowds pouring in from side streets and alleys, merging into a vast mass of people near the provincial governor’s office and close to where his relatives live.
He said the massive crowd began chanting slogans in support of Prince Reza Pahlavi, who had called for nationwide protests on January 8 and 9.
“There were people from all age groups. I saw individuals joining with walkers and even wheelchairs. Many had come as families, from grandparents to grandchildren. The number of people who had turned out was simply unbelievable.”
A city 'in the hands of the people'
According to Bardia, initially, the demonstrations were relatively calm.
Young protesters—mostly dressed in black and wearing masks—were armed with nothing more than stones. In some areas, they tore down street barriers and set trash bins on fire.
“At this stage, the entire city was in the hands of the people,” Bardia said.
Protesters also attacked places where detainees were being taken by the state's domestic enforcement militia the Basij, including some mosques, freeing those held there and, in some cases, setting the buildings ablaze.
Other witnesses have also said that protesters targeted locations linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), such as an IRGC intelligence domestic spying center, or places used to detain arrested protesters.
Some activists pointed to the presence of snipers on rooftops as another reason for attacking the sites.
Bardia said that attacks on government buildings and mosques were aimed at freeing detainees, not simply targeting state facilities.
Security forces appeared visibly frightened, he said, and retreated in the face of the crowd. Police fired pellet guns and rubber bullets, but despite the presence of Basij members—some as young as 15 or 16 and armed with Kalashnikov rifles—there was still no use of live ammunition, suggesting they had not yet received orders to shoot.
Rasht bazaar consumed by flames
Not too far from this scene, around 300 shops in Rasht’s historic bazaar were destroyed by fire on the same evening. Some activists accused the authorities of deliberately burning the market to punish shopkeepers who had gone on strike.
Bardia said the fire began at a mosque that protesters had set ablaze to free detained friends. However, security forces blocked access routes and prevented fire engines from reaching the area, allowing the blaze to spread.
As a result, the fire engulfed large sections of the ancient commercial hub, destroying the livelihoods of merchants—many of whom had been on strike.
“They blocked the street leading to the burning bazaar to arrest protesters,” he said. “People had no way forward or back—the fire was behind them, and security forces were charging from the front.”
The army enters: live fire begins
Non-IRGC military units rarely intervene directly in suppressing protests. But on Thursday night, acting on orders from the provincial security council, the army entered the crackdown in Rasht.
According to Bardia, live fire began when protesters closed in on the governor’s office and the state broadcaster.
At this point, marine commandos from the navy housed at a nearby base entered the scene and opened fire on people in the streets around the governor’s office—even though protesters had not yet entered the building.
“They shot only at heads and hearts,” he said. “Those killed were of all ages, but most were young people under 30.”
“We witnessed the massacre”
As the killings began around midnight, Bardia and his friends took shelter in a house overlooking a street leading to the governor’s office and did not leave until morning. “We witnessed the massacre with our own eyes,” he said.
They turned off the lights and watched in the darkness as bodies were collected before dawn. “We couldn’t go outside because they were shooting at anything that moved.”
“Street cleaners were brought in the early hours to erase all traces. They swept the streets, collected shell casings, and washed the blood away with fire trucks," he added.
Killing to terrorize
Despite the killings, protests continued on Friday although, according to Bardia, but unlike on Thursday, security forces opened fire with live ammunition from the outset, shooting at anyone who was on the streets by early evening and killing many more.
Bardia said he heard from a municipal employee that most victims were shot in the head or heart, indicating an intent to kill and terrorize.
“People working in the civil registry and hospitals told me the number of those killed in Rasht was around 600. All hospitals were full of the wounded.”
Other witnesses say the death toll may be as high as 3,000 over the two days of unrest.
The events echoed earlier mass killings, such as during November 2019 unrest against fuel price hikes, when Revolutionary Guards forces killed at least 100 protesters in the marshes around the southwestern city of Mahshahr.
In Rasht, residents say, a policy slogan encapsulated in a slogan forcefully but rarely mooted by some hardline Iranian officials of al-nasr bil-ru‘b, or victory through terror, was put into full force.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards have warned journalists inside the country against reporting on the national uprising, threatening arrests and heavy sentences, journalists inside Iran told Iran International.
Several reporters said they had been directly warned that any coverage of the uprising would lead to detention and harsh punishment.
Some journalists were told: “Do not do something you will regret; your family will mourn,” Iran International has learned.
The warnings come as authorities have moved to tighten control over information, including through a nationwide internet blackout and increased pressure on domestic media.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday posted what he said was a message from French President Emmanuel Macron on his Truth Social platform, in which Macron wrote that the two leaders were aligned on Syria and could “do great things on Iran.”
In the message, Macron also raised Greenland and suggested holding a meeting in Paris after the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi on Tuesday addressed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling him an anti-Iranian criminal at the helm of an “occupying regime” in the country and urged Iranians to prepare for a renewed wave of street protests.
“You, your regime and all your agents will be held to account for every drop of blood that has been spilled, without exception,” Pahlavi wrote on X.
He added: “Just as Nazi criminals were tried and punished in Nuremberg, you and your accomplices will be tried and punished – in the court of the Iranian people.”
Pahlavi told Iranians they were not alone and said their resistance had changed history, adding that the Islamic Republic had begun to fracture and that its power was weakening.
He called on Iranians to keep faith in unity and courage and said grief over those killed should be turned into determination against Khamenei and his domestic and foreign allies.
Pahlavi urged supporters to be ready for what he said would be a decisive return to the streets, “broader, stronger, more determined than ever,” including a push to take Tehran and reclaim Iran, ending with the slogan “Long live Iran!”
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran urged an independent investigation into potential crimes against humanity in Iran, saying an existing international fact-finding mechanism could be expanded to examine the latest protest crackdown.
In an interview with ABC News Mai Sato said an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council could be held as early as this week and could call for continuing the international fact-finding mission set up after the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests.
“They could be mandated to investigate this [latest] protest and the human rights impact in order to collect evidence and hold people accountable,” she said.
Asked whether crimes against humanity had been committed, Sato said it was possible but required investigation.
“Crimes against humanity [are] defined as widespread, systematic human rights violations against civilians, and that includes murder, torture, arbitrary detention,” she said. "There also needs to be intent. There [have] been so many casualties, and I have seen so many videos of security forces opening fire to unarmed civilians.
"But I think what we are seeing is extremely serious and after that I think the fact-finding mission, which is already in place, will be best placed to investigate that."
