Latest update: 2130 CET
The nationwide uprising is entering its 66th day on Sunday as the regime launches a massive and bloody crackdown in Mahabad and other Kurdish cities across west and northwest Iran.
Regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered his military and security units into the restive city of Mahabad which has witnessed escalating protests during the past few months and people taking over many, if not all, areas of the city after forcing local security units to flee.
Local activists have been reporting sounds of explosions through the night in the cities of Marivan, Baneh, Saqqez, and Bukan of Iran’s Kurdish regions. Several drones were reportedly flying over the city of Bukan. At 3 am local time five massive explosions were reported in Bukan and two similar explosions in Saqqez. Further reports indicate the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) using helicopters to dispatch its armed units into Mahabad, many of which were immediately deployed into the city’s streets.
November 20 – Mahabad, northwest #Iran
IRGC units are deployed in the city streets and are shooting at locals.#IranRevolution2022#مهابادpic.twitter.com/muCV6mKutx— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 20, 2022
Activists are reporting that at 5 am security forces began storming people’s homes in Bukan, arresting the residents, and stealing their money, jewelry, and even their mobile phones. Store-owners and merchants in most of Iran’s Kurdish cities are on strike, protesting the regime’s ongoing and unbridled crackdown measures.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 243 cities. Over 600 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 466 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
November 20 – Mahabad, northwest #Iran
Helicopters are patrolling the city from above as authorities have launched a massive crackdown in this and other Kurdish cities.#IranRevolution #مهابادpic.twitter.com/Xnff13EZ1e— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 20, 2022
On Sunday merchants and store-owners in many cities once again closed their shops in a general strike throughout the country. This included Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province, and Mahabad, Oshnavieh, Piranshahr, Sardasht, Baneh, Marivan, Divandarreh, Saqqez, Qorveh, Bijar, Kermanshah, Paveh, Javanrud, Kamyaran, Ilam, and Nikshahr in Sistan & Baluchestan Province, among others.
Students at numerous universities were also protesting the regime’s crackdown measures by boycotting them and taking to the streets in anti-regime rallies. This included Kurdistan University in Sanandaj where the professors also joined the movement, the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Khajeh Nasir Toosi University and Allameh Tabataba’i University in Tehran, the Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, the Islamic Azad University of Rasht, the Islacmi Azad University of Sari, Marvdasht University, Yazd University, the Kharazmi Faculty of Psychology, the Iran University of Science and Technology, and the the University of Science and Culture.
November 20 – #Iran
College students boycotted their classes in support of the national uprising
—Yazd University
—Kharazmi Faculty of Psychology
—Iran University of Science and Technology
—Professors of Kurdistan University (Sanandaj)#IranRevolution2022#اعتصابات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/8aDzsdQ3j7— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 20, 2022
High school students in Shahin Shahr of central Iran and Mehrshahr, west of Tehrah, were also protesting today and chanting slogans against the mullahs’ regime.
People in various cities took to the streets in support of their compatriots in Mahabad and other cities under siege today by the regime’s military and security forces. Such rallies were reported in Bukan and Tehran’s Abuldabad district where people began establishing roadblocks and taking control of their districts.
November 20 – Tehran, #Iran
Locals in Abdulabad district are continuing the nationwide protests against the regime on the 66th day of the uprising.#IranRevolution2022#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/nkmOP64Lie— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 20, 2022
After the military siege on Mahabad, locals in several cities held protest rallies and expressed their solidarity with the people of Mahabad. Rallies were reported in Tehran, Karaj, Dashti, Kamyaran, and Saqqez, where protesters chanted slogans such as “Mahabad is not alone” and “Mahabad and Kurdistan exemplify all of Iran!”
Nightly protests were also reported in several cities, including Isfahan, Karaj, Sardasht, Marivan, and Urmia. In Paveh and Javanrud, the regime’s security forces opened fire on unarmed civilians.
On Saturday merchants in many cities throughout Iran went on strike in solidarity with the country’s nationwide uprising against the mullahs’ regime. Activists in the cities of Zahedan and Iranshahr in Sistan & Baluchestan Province, Sanandaj, Tabriz, Tehran, and Shahin Dej were among the first to report and provide footage of such strikes.
In the restive city of Mahabad in West Azerbaijan Province of northwest Iran, a large crowd of locals participated in the funeral ceremony of Kamal Ahmadpour who was killed on Friday by the regime’s security forces. Anti-regime protests continue in this city and reports from the city of Divandarreh in Kurdistan Province indicate locals have set ablaze the office of Khamenei’s local representative. In Piranshahr, locals held protest rallies and clashed with security forces dispatched to suppress them.
In Zahedan, local activists are reporting that protesters are establishing control of their streets with roadblocks and fires.
Students at Shiraz University gathered outside the Kharazmi Library protesting authorities’ decision to dispatch special anti-riot units to their campus. They were seen chanting “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” which has become a hallmark slogan of the ongoing Iranian revolution.
Similar protests and class boycotts by students were reported from Tehran’s Sharif, Amir Kabir, Kharazmi, and National universities, the Tabriz Islamic Art University, the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz University, the Isfahan University of Technology, Kurdistan University in Sanandaj, and Shahrekord University, among others.
Protests and strikes continued throughout the day in several provinces and cities across Iran. Shop owners in Malekan, Chabahar, Marivan, Piranshahr, and Saqqez joined national strikes against the regime. At the same time, students in several cities held protest rallies, including Isfahan, Shiraz, Sanandaj, and Tabriz.
The situation in Sanandaj grew especially tense as security forces attacked students and opened fire on their protest rallies. In Qods City too, security forces cracked down on student rallies and violently arrested several youths.
Another intense round of protests took place in Shiraz, where a large crowd gathered for the funeral of Sajjad Ghaemi, another civilian murdered by security forces. Protesters chanted anti-regime slogans and called for regime change. Again, the regime showed zero tolerance toward protests and opened fire on the peaceful rally. The protesters held their ground and resisted the regime, despite the brutality of the repressive forces. At least one video shows protesters being severely wounded after security forces opened fire on the crowd.
November 19 – Shiraz, south-central #Iran
Footage of locals injured by the regime's security forces when they attacked the funeral of Sajjad Ghaemi, a local killed by the regime's security forces recently.#IranRevolution2022#سجاد_قائمی pic.twitter.com/mtbdpkRomw— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 19, 2022
Protests continued in several cities late into the night.
Protest rallies were reported in Kurdish cities, including Saqqez, Piranshahr, Marivan, Oshnavieh, Sanandaj, and Saqqez. Protesters routed security forces and established control over several parts of their cities.
In other parts of the country, protesters continued to target regime buildings, institutions, and icons. In Ilam, protesters responded to the regime’s brutal crackdown by setting fire to several buildings belonging to the IRGC and other regime institutions. In Anar, protesters set fire to a large poster of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the terrorist IRGC Quds Force that the regime tries to glorify as a hero.
November 19 – Anar, south-central #Iran
Locals set ablaze a bust of former IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani on the 65th night of the uprising.#IranRevolution2022#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبرpic.twitter.com/FYvmFlpSAH— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 19, 2022
Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi hailed the Iranian people’s ongoing protest rallies and revolution while condemning the regime’s deadly crackdown measures.
“Khamenei said they would terminate the ‘riots’ and the ‘hotbeds of evil.’ Yes, with the victory of the democratic revolution, the hotbeds of four decades of evil crimes by religious fascism will be swept away forever and democracy and people’s sovereignty will be established,” she said.
“Khamenei suffered the most from Iran’s protests and democratic revolution with the “Death to Khamenei!” turning into a national mantra. ‘The enemy has been defeated, but has new tricks every day,’ he said to soothe his demoralized forces. He should expect heavier blows from youths,” the NCRI President-elect explained.
Khamenei said they would terminate the “riots” and the “hotbeds of evil”.
Yes, with the victory of the democratic revolution, the hotbeds of 4 decades of evil crimes by religious fascism will be swept away forever & democracy and people’s sovereignty will be established. pic.twitter.com/JzuknNyHrX— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) November 19, 2022
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.
