Latest update – 4:15 pm
The year 2023 is beginning with Iran witnessing ongoing turmoil as the conflict between the Iranian people seeking to live in freedom and democracy and the ruling mullahs’ regime continues. Brave Iranians in various cities are constantly taking to the streets in their anti-regime protests while chanting slogans against the very top of the mullahs’ echelons. They’re specifically targeting regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his entire apparatus of oppressive forces.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 282 cities. Over 750 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 601 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
Early reports on Sunday morning indicate that merchants and storeowners in the city bazaar of Javanrud are on strike in solidarity with the ongoing protests against the regime in this city and across the country. Similar strikes is being reported in a section of Tehran’s famous Grand Bazaar, Kermanshah, and Marivan in Kurdistan Province, western Iran.
At 5 am local time on Sunday morning, regime security forces in the city of Semirom in Isfahan Province, central Iran, arrested at least three relatives of those killed in the recent nationwide protests, according to local activists.
In Tehran, investors of the King Money institution held a rally demanding their stolen money be returned. And in the city of Dehloran in Ilam Province, western Iran, workers and employees of the local petrochemical site are on strike.
In other reports from the Iranian capital, Tehran University music students boycotted their classes today protesting the fact that their professors’ paychecks have been suspended for supporting the college students in the ongoing Iranian revolution.
January 1 – Tehran, #Iran
Investors of the King Money institution rallying and demanding their stolen money to be returned.#IranRevolution2023 #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/PnJ67aDhjL— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 1, 2023
On Saturday morning locals in the city of Javanrud in Kermanshah Province, western Iran, began gathering for a scheduled ceremony in memory of protesters killed by the mullahs’ regime 40 days ago. Authorities are extremely concerned about such rallies evolving into anti-regime protests. Many security units were dispatched to the city’s cemetery to prevent any sign of protests.
Crowds were seen chanting: “Martyrs don’t die!” and “Death to Khamenei!” in a direct reference to Khamenei. Reports indicate security forces began opening fire on the locals and are using tear gas to disperse the crowd. Local activists are reporting that at least eight individuals in Javanrud have been injured by the regime’s security forces.
Reports on social media and provided by local activists indicate regime security forces opened fire on people in Javanrud and killed 22-year-old Borhan Eliasi. Security forces are using live ammunition and aiming directly at those gathered for today’s memorial ceremony.
Locals continued their protests with various anti-regime slogans and by setting fire to a police trailer. Reports indicate the protesters were also headed towards an IRGC facility in the city of Salas Babajani in Kermanshah Province, western Iran. In other reports from this city protesters were seen taking control of two branches of state-owned banks.
People in the city of Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province, western Iran, took to the streets on Saturday night and established roadblocks with fires in solidarity with the protesters of Javanrud.
December 31 – Sanandaj, western #Iran
Locals are taking control of their streets and protesting in solidarity with the city of Javanrud.#IranRevolution2022#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/zgbnIOAHn0— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 31, 2022
Activists in Tehran are reporting that security forces have deployed many units to the city’s famous Bazaar area since early this morning and began attacking those holding gatherings. People were seen chanting anti-regime slogans, including “Death to the dictator!” There are reports indicating regime security forces attacking the protesters and more stores closing down to protest the regime’s crackdown measures.
A similar strike is being reported in the city of Rasht in Gilan Province or northern Iran.
In other reports, official employees of the Abadan Refinery in southwest Iran and the Arak refinery in central Iran held a protest gathering today demanding answers to their issues which they have raised for some time now with their officials. Employees of the Azar oil company are also on strike in the city of Mehran in Ilam Province, western Iran.
December 31 – Abadan, southwest #Iran
Official workers of the Abadan Refinery held a protesting gathering on this 107th day of the nationwide uprising.#IranRevolution2022#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/XeWRs5g3Jb— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 31, 2022
Protests are also being reported in the cities of Najafabad and Semirom in Isfahan Province as people have been taking to the streets in rallies and follow-up marches after memorial ceremonies held for protesters killed by the mullahs’ regime. Participants have been seen chanting anti-regime slogans, including: “Death to Khamenei!” and “Death to the dictator!”
In Qom and other cities across the country people are seen setting fire to posters of former IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani. This is becoming an escalating trend across the country as Iranians voice their hatred of Soleimani, the IRGC, and the entirety of the regime, especially just days prior to the anniversary of his killing in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.
Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi called on the international community to stand alongside the people of Iran in their struggle against the mullahs’ regime to establish freedom, democracy, and human rights.
“May governments and international institutions respond without delay to the desire of the people of Iran who are enduring suppression, torture, and execution,” the NCRI President-elect highlighted.
May governments and international institutions respond without delay to the desire of the people of Iran who are enduring suppression, torture, and execution.#IranRevolutionhttps://t.co/KNYt2gR1O6pic.twitter.com/V1RIZdujj0
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) January 1, 2023
The protests in Iran began following the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, who traveled to Tehran with her family, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, at the entry of Haqqani Highway by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency.
She was brutally beaten by the morality police and died of her wounds in a Tehran hospital on September 16. The event triggered protests that quickly spread across Iran and rekindled the people’s desire to overthrow the regime.
