"Thanks to an information blackout caused by Tehran's decision to switch off the internet, it is hard to be precise about what just happened on the streets of Iran. But one official has admitted to a death toll of 2,000. CBS News put the number of dead at 12,000, while some warn it could be many thousands more all of them Iranian civilians, gunned down for daring to protest against their government and to demand a better life."
"The reports are horrifying and scarcely denied. Doubtless to frighten and deter the Iranian public, the regime itself has published pictures of morgues brimming with body bags. There are reports of security forces using automatic weapons on demonstrators, firing into crowds indiscriminately, mowing down their fellow citizens. Others speak of pellet guns discharging birdshot into the eyes of protesters in order to blind them."
"Those who took to the streets would have known the risk they were taking. After all, when Iranians protested the election that was stolen from them in 2009, when they complained about exorbitant fuel prices in 2019, and when they rallied under the slogan Women, life, freedom in 2022-3, the response was brutal each time. Knowing all that, they protested anyway. They did it in all 31 of Iran's provinces, and from all parts of society."
An information blackout caused by Tehran's decision to switch off the internet obscured the full scale of violence on Iran's streets. One official admitted a death toll of 2,000, while CBS News reported 12,000 and some warned of many thousands more. The regime published images of morgues filled with body bags. Security forces reportedly used automatic weapons on demonstrators, fired into crowds indiscriminately, and employed pellet guns that can blind. The protests occurred across all 31 provinces and involved people from all social strata. The movement expressed broad, sustained fury rather than a single grievance.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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