![]() ![]() Protests on this scale prompted by anger over the abuse of women’s rights are rare anywhere. Is history repeating itself? Certainly some protesters have invoked parallels with the tumultuous events of 1979, chanting :“Death to the oppressor, be it the shah or the supreme leader!” There are many reasons to be impressed by what is happening in Iran. The powerful and impressive images coursing through our Facebook and Twitter feeds, and reproduced by mainstream media, might lead us to believe they are right. Oppression of women is an existential issue for the regime, but perhaps, too, a fundamental weakness. The unrest appears set to intensify.Ĭould this finally be the spark that leads to massive change in Iran, as many hope? Some believe a fuse has been lit. Women have thrown headscarves on to fires, vast posters celebrating the regime have been torn down, police stations torched. Crowds are on the streets again in Tehran and other Iranian cities following the death on 16 September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, arrested by the morality police, who accused her of breaking laws on wearing the hijab introduced by Khomeini’s regime in 1981. ![]() This was the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then thousands of miles away in exile in Paris, though his portrait was carried by many of the marchers.ĭecades later and the regime established by Khomeini is still in power in Iran. The CIA, warily watching opposition in a key regional ally and client for US arms, noted that one man was “the focal point”, providing “guidance and support for the movement acting in his name in Iran”. Around a fifth to almost a half of the city’s population was on the streets. I n the second week of December 1978, between 1 and 2 million people marched peacefully through Tehran calling for the Shah to leave. ![]()
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