Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, November 23, 2019—Cities and towns throughout Iran are experiencing a growing number of demonstrations, protests and a nationwide uprising, expanding into its ninth consecutive day on Saturday, November 23. Tehran and dozens of other cities are witnessing ongoing unrests and protests as the Iranian people have risen in at least 142 cities across the country with at least 285 killed and over 3,700 people injured by the regime’s oppressive security forces. Reports also indicate more 7,000 protesters have been arrested. The actual statistics could unfortunately be far higher. Internet access is gradually increasing, according to Netblocks.org.
Protesters are specifically raising political demands by directly targeting senior regime officials and the entire mullahs’ apparatus. In their slogans, protesters are demanding the toppling of the Iranian regime and placing their crosshairs on the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as the root of the Iranian people’s ongoing miseries.
A number of state-run news agencies are reporting home internet has been provided in 10 provinces. However, other sources do not confirm these reports.
Over 1,000 state-run bank branches have suffered damages since November 15. 120 branches belong to the state-run Bank Mellat, 100 to Bank Maskan (Housing) and 20 to Pasargad Bank. 46 ATM machines have suffered 20 to 100 percent damage in the city of Khorramabad, western Iran. 36 branches in this city have been damaged and five branches were torched, inflicting 20 to 100 percent damage to the sites.
Reports also indicate the mullahs’ regime is resorting to obtaining coerced confessions from arrested protesters. This follows more than a week of protest in response to escalating gas prices and fuel rationing, along with a massive crackdown imposed by regime authorities.
One day after coerced confessions were broadcast from a woman arrested in West Azerbaijan Province of northwest Iran, Salar Abnush, head of operations in the IRGC Basij, said details of how security forces confronted what he describes as the “sedition” will be made public after confessions are fully from those arrested.
In his Thursday remarks, this brigadier general said the regime should have shut down the internet sooner and their countermeasures against the protesters were boosted with access being heavily restricted.
Recently obtained footage from the city of Javanrud in western Iran indicate heavy clashes between protesters and the regime’s oppressive security forces.
Javanrud, western #Iran
November 2019
Street clashes between protesters and the regime's oppressive security forces.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/uueoQNnmQO— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) 23 November 2019
The Iranian regime’s media outlets are voicing deep concerns over the PMOI/MEK’s role in recent unrests and the internet clampdown imposed by the mullahs.
“These protests delivered vast damages to the country when the PMOI network entered the scene,” according to the state-run Farhikhtegan daily. “The organized nature is the main characteristic of those inflicting damage to state-owned property in the recent events.”
The regime’s official IRNA news agency reported: “The city of Shifaz, alongside Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz and Ahvaz was home to the most unrest related to the (MEK)… The massive amount of damages imposed on banks, gas stations and city infrastructure, the large number of clashes reported in various sites, and the planning to cripple the city of Shiraz by blocking vital roads and closing off Shiraz from the outside was very dangerous and far more expansive than other cities across the country.”
Based on various reports published in state-run media the internet shutdown will reportedly continue until December 7, according to the Jahan-e Sanat daily. “We have fallen back a week from everything. The question is with which government expert did officials hold talks with to then decide to shut down the internet?… One week into the intranet it has been proven that the national internet does not provide our necessities. There are many weaknesses in the fundamental infrastructure. The country’s search engines and indigenous software, such as messengers and others, are very weak despite all the discounts provided. Messenger software have proven they lack the necessary infrastructure to provide service for a large number of users. Indigenous search engines lack the capability to provide search results for even the simplest words,” the report reads.
Report from Tabriz, northwest Iran, to MEK network inside the country:
“On Saturday, November 16, people began blocking main roads in Tabriz, protesting the status quo and escalating gasoline prices. Anti-riot units and officers from police station No. 13 attempted to disperse the crowd at 4 pm local time. At 7 pm, traffic built up as people gathered in the streets and their numbers were increasing by the minute. Vehicles could not move and they were being stopped by locals. At around 8 pm reports indicated that protesters began breaking the banks’ windows. Four state-run banks were torched, and the largest branch belonged to Bank Melli. A gas station was also destroyed by the protesters… People were also chanting, ‘Death to the dictator’ and continuing their protests by breaking the glasses of all banks, including branches of Melli, Saderat (Exports), Sepah, Tejarat (Trade), Kowthar and … such scenes continued until 4 or 5 am Sunday morning (November 17) and the regime’s anti-riot vehicles and trucks equipped with fire cannons could not enter the area. People were showing strong resistance in various areas while chanting slogans against the mullahs’ dictatorship.
“Demonstrations and ani-regime slogans continued into Sunday and reports indicate four other gas stations were burned. Protesters stopped a vehicle with a mullah inside and pulled him out. He was severely injured during the attack.
“Most of the people participating in this round of protests were youths between the age of 17 and 23. In various areas the crowd of protesters reached around 10,000. The regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security department dispatched its agents to arrest political activists and former political prisoners. Around three or four people were arrested in each district.”
