The Iranian government, faced with the largest protests since 2009, decided on Sunday to block several social media outlets at protests started to spread all over the county. Instagram and Telegram have already been blocked as more and more people took to Twitter to share with the world the great number of protesters in the streets.
In what are mostly unverified reports, there have been sightings of a governor’s office being put on fire, the revolutionary guard in Teheran cracking down on protesters and two people already being shot dead as they dared to defy the regime.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tuyserkan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tuyserkan</a> in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hamadan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hamadan</a> province right now. This is the governor's office <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeIran?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeIran</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iranprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iranprotests</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranianProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranianProtests</a> <a href="https://t.co/P19fOeHaH6">pic.twitter.com/P19fOeHaH6</a></p>— Hossein Abedini (@HoAbedini) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoAbedini/status/947476303606894593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Many on social media thanked US President Trump for daring to stand up against the Iranian government and calling out what he saw as disproportionate violence against peaceful protesters.
The Iranian regime seems to have been caught off guard by these protests said to have begun by the recent price hikes for normal foodstuff, leaving many in poverty in a country already far below the region’s normal level of unemployment, inflation, and economic growth.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Security forces attack the peaceful demonstrators in Vesal Crossroad, Tehran <a href="https://t.co/FWJ81kUA9S">pic.twitter.com/FWJ81kUA9S</a> <a href="https://t.co/FWJ81kUA9S">https://t.co/FWJ81kUA9S</a> <a href="https://t.co/DUyfnmYHpS">https://t.co/DUyfnmYHpS</a></p>— ☆MoD OSINT☆🇺🇦 (@DMonigatti) <a href="https://twitter.com/DMonigatti/status/947483789701328897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Meanwhile, Iran’s interior minister, Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazil, declared that authorities would act harshly against the “spreading of violence, fear and terror”, and that any protester would “definitely be confronted”.
“Those who damage public property, disrupt order, people’s security and break the law must be responsible for their behaviour and should answer and pay the price.”
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Now Anti-riot police fired warning-shots and then started to brutally suppress protest of people in an unknown location in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tehran?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tehran</a>. Protests against corrupted Shia clerics and authorities of Islamic regime of Iran. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtests</a> <a href="https://t.co/LtdZRVpHpt">pic.twitter.com/LtdZRVpHpt</a></p>— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) <a href="https://twitter.com/BabakTaghvaee/status/947479849224097792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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People seemed unafraid though, with the masses protesting ever larger in number.
Meanwhile, US President Trump warned the Iranian regime just two hours ago that the world was watching for possible human rights violations: “Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!”
Source:
US media doesn't cover anything Trump supports!