Parisa Hafezi
DUBAI, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Iranians returned to the streets this week to mourn those killed by security forces during anti-government demonstrations last month, triggering some new crackdowns that echoed the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed shah.
Anti-Shah revolutionaries turned Shiite Muslim commemorative marches 40 days after each death into new protests, triggering new violence and new “martyrs” from the authorities.
Opponents of the clerical establishment have adopted the same tactics fifty years later and have yet to catch up to the momentum of that era, but Iran’s clerical rulers have made their concerns known after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a military attack over his nuclear and security policies.
They deployed security forces to some cemeteries and invited citizens to attend Tuesday’s state-organized 40-day “Chehelom” ceremony after apologizing to “all those affected by the violence” which they blamed on “terrorists”.
“They tried to prevent history from repeating itself by holding these rituals in mosques across the country. To prevent angry families from gathering at cemeteries, but they failed,” said an Iranian rights activist who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Security forces clash with mourners
Families across Iran held their own commemorations on Tuesday, videos circulating on social media showed, 40 days after security forces began two days of widespread shooting that rights groups said killed thousands of protesters.
Some of Tuesday’s commemorations turned into broader anti-government protests, some of which were suppressed with deadly force.
In the Kurdish town of Abu Danan in Ilam province, witnesses and activists said security forces opened fire on hundreds of mourners who had gathered at a cemetery.
Video showed gunshots ringing out and people fleeing, chanting “Death to the dictator,” referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A Reuters reporter confirmed that the videos were shot at the cemetery. They were unable to verify the date but found no version published before Tuesday: when witnesses and activists said people gathered at the cemetery were shot.
The Iranian Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw said at least three people were injured and nine people were arrested in Abu Danan. Similar clashes were reported in Mashhad and Hamadan. Iranian sources said Internet access in these cities is severely restricted.
It has been 40 days since the peak of the protests in January.
More services are expected to be held on Wednesday, 40 days after the worst two days of January’s unrest, although communications restrictions meant it was not immediately known how many funerals there would be or the outcome of them.
January’s unrest escalated from a small economic protest by businessmen in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar in December into the most serious threat to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in nearly five decades, with protesters demanding the resignation of the ruling cleric.
Rights groups said authorities cut off internet access, blamed “armed terrorists” linked to Israel and the United States for the violence and arrested journalists, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates and students.
Iranian officials told Reuters that the leadership was concerned that a U.S. attack could spark more protests and weaken its grip on power. Repression, inequality, corruption and funding of overseas agents are major grievances.
“How long can they keep killing people to stay in power? People are angry and frustrated,” said Sara, a 28-year-old government employee from the central city of Isfahan.
“The Islamic Republic has brought nothing but war, economic misery and death to our country.”
Trump has deployed aircraft carriers, fighter jets, guided-missile destroyers and other capabilities to the Middle East in response to possible attacks if talks to limit Iran’s nuclear program and weaken its foreign proxies do not bear fruit.
Even without a U.S. attack, continued isolation from Western sanctions is likely to further stoke public anger.
In 1979, an oil workers’ strike slashed much of Iran’s revenue, while bazaar merchants financed rebel clerics, fueling an anti-shah rebellion in provincial towns and villages.
There have been no reports of either this time around, but small-scale tactics have been adopted, with people chanting “Allahu Akbar” and “Death to the dictator” often from rooftops during nightly demonstrations, according to witnesses and social media posts.
(Additional reporting by Catherine Cartier in Beirut, Sophie Royle Edward Carron in London, Fernando Robles, Monica Naime in Mexico Writing by Parisa Hafezi Editing by Philippa Fletcher)