“At night, chants echo from inside people’s homes” after thousands killed and internet shut down
~ Rob Latchford, Gabriel Fonten ~
Iran remains under de-facto martial law as heavy repression sets in to quell the uprising that shook the country. Despite the ongoing internet shutdown, eyewitness accounts and video evidence of killings and injuries continue to circulate on social media. One video showed bodies of patients who were executed in hospital beds, their bodies still attached to life-support equipment. Another showed body-bags at the Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Center in Tehran.
On Saturday (17 January), Iranian officials said 4,500 civilians had been killed in the protests, but sources opposed to the regime have put the number at over 20,000. Reports also emerged from multiple locations Saturday that doctors and nurses who had treated the injured had been summoned to court.
The internet shutdown in Iran has exceeded 240 hours, renewing after a brief, heavily filtered restoration of select Google and messaging services. Netblocks reported that “During this time, some Iranians were able to give updates detailing the severity of the crisis on the ground”. According to Iranian anarchist writer Hasse-Nima Golkar, “Shutting down the internet, Starlink, telephones, and every means of communication is not merely a security tactic, but an attempt to sever the horizontal bonds of solidarity and mutual aid among the people”.
The protests, which started in late December, saw clashes with security forces spread to over 180 cities, from the capital to the border provinces populated by Kurdish, Azeri and other minorities. During an emergency UN Security Council session, members warned of further sanctions and called for the immediate release of detainees and a halt to executions. US President Donald Trump threatened, then retracted threats, to take military action against the regime.
A comrade from Tehran reported via Anarchist Front that proxy forces, including Shiite Iraqi insurgents Hashd al-Shaabi, have been present at security checkpoints, particularly in Tehran, Mashhad, and Zahedan, with unconfirmed reports from other cities. “They are firing live ammunition directly at demonstrators”, reported the comrade, “Those who fail to stop at checkpoints or show signs of frustration or resistance are subjected to severe beatings and brutal treatment.
“The city is saturated with anger and tension. People drive aggressively. Public patience has been exhausted, and encounters have become increasingly harsh and volatile. At night, chants echo from inside people’s homes. Calls of ‘Death to the dictator’ can be heard for one to two hours—sometimes intermittently, sometimes continuously”, the comrade wrote.
The Anarchist Front has issued a call for “permanent anarchist and internationalist sit-in” on streets around the world to draw attention to the “dramatic decline of the world situation” from Iran and Venezuela to Palestine, Greenland to Sudan. “It is time to mobilise hope not fear and this is only possible through the creation of solidarity and permanent networks, which, through affinity, actions, independent reporting, and plurality, can modify the balance of power”.
Over 500 Iranian feminists in the diaspora signed a declaration against the mass killings. They described the uprising as an “extension of long-standing demands for justice, freedom, and independence” and called for “a democratic, secular, and gender-equal future for Iran”.
