Following revelations that Flight 752 was brought down by an Iranian missile, protests against the Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian regime broke out this evening, 11 January 2020, in Tehran and cities across Iran.
The protests follow months-long demonstrations against the regime in late 2019 in which as many as 2000 Iranians may have lost their lives.
The most prominent of the protests was held at Tehran Polytechnic University following a vigil for students of the university killed in the downing of flight 752.
The largest protests appear to have been held at Tehran Polytechnic University widely regarded as the premier engineering university in the country. These met with a robust response from riot police with reports that police locked gates to stop people leaving the area.
Yegane Emdad (Emergency Unit) of Police of #Iran's Islamic Regime was deployed to suppress the #AmirKabir university students but they failed to do it because of high number of protesters this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/2MkPsazRTL
— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) January 11, 2020
The voice of the Iranian people is clear. They are fed up with the regime’s lies, corruption, ineptitude, and brutality of the IRGC under @khamenei_ir's kleptocracy. We stand with the Iranian people who deserve a better future. pic.twitter.com/tBOjv9XsIG
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 11, 2020
?Now Tehran
The rebel forces are threatening the people to end the protests. They killed 1,500 protesters in November.#IranProtests #IranPlaneCrash pic.twitter.com/krP5wPRDYE
— Mohammad Mozafari (@mohmd_mozafari) January 11, 2020
Female student says they're stuck behind the locked gates of Tehran's Amir Kabir University. She says #Iran security forces are using tear gas against protesters & that large crowds that include both students and ordinary #Iranians are protesting outside the univ. #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/pa2nxxIKH9
— Iran News Wire (@IranNW) January 11, 2020
After kettling the students, the riot police fired multiple rounds of tear gas at the protesters.
Polytechnic University
Some hours ago!#FreeIran2020 #FlightPS752 #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/PWS1Ly59js— Orkidé Farahani (@Orkid20823710) January 11, 2020
In response, tens of thousands of protesters came walking towards the Tehran Polytechnic and Sharif universities to back up the embattled students.
Tens of thousands of people are now walking toward #AmirKabir & #Sharif universities to join the students who are now protesting against #Iran's Islamic Regime in #Tehran. They chant: "We hadn't our loved ones killed to remain silent & praise murderous #Khamenei". pic.twitter.com/zBLcFV05Yj
— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) January 11, 2020
Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad also saw night-time protests with snow falling.
#IranProtests are wide scale. Here's what it looks like in the city of Mashhad. pic.twitter.com/NzWFnsou5E
— Memelord (@dailydigger19) January 11, 2020
Protests were also reported in Isfahan, a city of two million people in Central Iran, making it the third largest city in the world. The crowds here were chanting “Do not call us seditionists, you oppressors are the sedition”, according to the tweet below.
Isfahan right now chanting:
“America isn’t our enemy, our enemy is here in Iran."#Iran #IranPlaneCrash #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/QUpD8WwUSz
— Mark Halawa – مارك حلاوه (@HalawaMark) January 11, 2020
A protest march was also held in Rasht, the largest city in Iran’s Caspian Sea coast.
?Now Rasht
People in different cities of Iran are taking to the streets and chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic. This is the real voice of the Iranian people.#IranProtests #IranPlaneCrash pic.twitter.com/fzbWO9Kgcs
— Mohammad Mozafari (@mohmd_mozafari) January 11, 2020
Meanwhile, drivers in Sabzevar and Tehran created traffic jams in order to protest against the regime.
#BREAKING: People in #Sabzevar in East of #Iran have come to streets to protest against #Iran's Islamic Regime over shot-down of Flight #PS752 using their cars to cause traffic. pic.twitter.com/9hZrdAvUXt
— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) January 11, 2020
Concurrently, the California Society for Democracy in Iran (CSDI), a social network of Iranian-Americans who advocate for democratic change in Iran, is holding an event called, Stand with the Iranian People Uprising.
They sing after a minute of silence for D martyrs #IranProtests & #IranPlaneCrash National Anthem of #Iran#Iran’s National Anthem played at #2020CaliforniaConvention.
Iranian Americans are here to support the voices of Iranian people on #IranProtests— Maryam Khoramshahi (@Maryamtaban12) January 11, 2020
In separate news, it was announced my the Iranian authorities that the British Ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire had been briefly detained by the Iranian authorites.
Article Licence: CC BY-ND 4.0
