Behind the blackout, Iran fears state violence and death

Meisam has taken to the streets with every round of protest in Iran over the last 16 years but this time he hopes things will be different.

- Ruth Michaelson Middle East Correspondent

When he ventured into central Rasht in northern Iran last week, he got a call from a friend saying the police were already making arrests as people milled on the streets. His friend told him to stay at home, but Meisam was determined.

As evening fell, the crowd grew so large that it began to dwarf any fears people might have had about security forces firing back. Meisam realised the protesters were testing the boundaries of the coming crackdown.

"There’s nothing left to lose," he said. "What's the worst that can happen? For me, personally, it’s getting shot in the street, and I'm not afraid of that any more. I am ready to pay a price to bring down this regime, even if that price is my death."

What began as protests about the slow-motion collapse of Iran’s economy soon morphed into demands for the end of the Islamic Republic. By the end of the week, crowds of thousands took to the streets in the capital, Tehran, and cities across the country, buoyed by a call to protest from the country’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi.

Videos showed crowds chanting "death to the dictator" and setting vehicles alight. Demonstrators in the city of Abdanan broke into a military-run supermarket and hurled fistfuls of rice in the air, openly defying a government offer of subsidies on basic goods intended to quell the unrest.

One Iranian journalist shared a message from a demonstrator in Rasht who said the air "smells like gunpowder and blood", after protesters ripped security cameras from the walls and burned banks and mosques on Friday night.

The growing protests have prompted fears of a brutal crackdown under the cover of an internet blackout that has cut off Iran from the outside world. Government officials, including the president Masoud Pezeshkian, initially declared themselves willing to hear protesters' demands about the cost of living.