Iran’s government has rallied tens of thousands of its supporters to counter anti-regime protests which have gripped the country for the last week. The demonstrators turned out in towns and cities rocked by some of the largest riots in nearly a decade, where people have been protesting against rising costs and corruption. The crowds in Qom, Ahvaz and Kermanshah waved Iranian flags and pictures of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as signs reading "Death to seditionists". Pro-government demonstrators march in Iran's holy city of Qom, some 90 miles south of Tehran Credit: AFP Some also held placards saying “Death to America and Israel”, referencing the ayatollah’s comments on Tuesday accusing Iran’s foreign enemies of fermenting the unrest. The semi-official Fars news agency, affiliated to the elite Revolutionary Guards, described the well-attended rallies as “the revolutionary outburst of Iranian people against lawbreakers”. Such rallies are often organised by the government in Iran to demonstrate its popular support and justify any crackdown on opposition demonstrations. Tens of thousands gathered across Iran in a massive show of strength for the Islamic rulers after days of deadly unrest. Credit: AFP Some small anti-regime protests were held on Wednesday, but they lacked the intensity and numbers seen in previous days. More than 21 people, including two teenage boys, have been killed in clashes in the last week. Some 1,000 have been arrested, with the head of Tehran's Revolutionary Court warning that they could potentially face the death penalty. The protests began on December 28, when a few hundred demonstrators gather in Mashhad and several other towns, apparently mobilised by a call on popular messaging service Telegram. Two days later the government shut down the app and other social media sites in an attempt to quell the unrest. While initially focusing on Iran's flagging economy and rising food prices, the protests have morphed into demands for wholesale change in Iran's theocratic government. Iranian students protest at the University of Tehran during a demonstration driven by anger over economic problems, in the capital Tehran Credit: AFP They may be rooted in anger over the economy and corruption, but protesters quickly started chanting slogans directly against Khamenei and denouncing the Islamic Republic itself - not just a call for reforms, but an open and outright rejection of the ruling system. This is a dramatic shift from 2009, where a few voices called for the ayatollah’s removal, but they were limited. Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, told his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, on Wednesday that he hoped that the protests would come to an end in the coming days. The Revolutionary Guards also claimed that the protests were petering out. "Today we can announce the end of the sedition," Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Guards, said. "There were a maximum of 1,500 people in each place and the number of troublemakers did not exceed 15,000 people nationwide.” But protesters said they would continue until their demands were met. “The regime is trying to show the world that they have more supporters than detractors by organising big rallies, but it will not silence us,” one activist from the northeastern city of Mashhad, using only the name Ali, told the Telegraph. “This isn’t an overnight movement, this hasn’t sprung up from nowhere.” Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Iran’s former government spokesperson, said the regime ignored the protesters’ concerns at their peril. “What are these lies? Which enemy?,” he wrote on Twitter. “These are our youth. They are fed up with being ignored, of unemployment, despair, poverty, lack of future and bias. I recommend the regime to listen and turn this into an opportunity for dialogue before the entire house burns down.” The US denied it was behind the protests, while at the same time encouraging Iranians to rise up against the regime. “The people of Iran are crying out for freedom,” NIkki Harley, the US’s ambassador to the United Nations, said. “All freedom-loving people must stand with their cause.” President Donald Trump quickly seized on the unrest in Iran, hoping it may destablise the country he has called the “biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world”. In an ominous message on Wednesday, he tweeted: “Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!” Ambassadors to EU states are concerned that Mr Trump is trying to use the demonstrations as a vehicle to place further pressure on the EU to abandon its support for the Iran nuclear deal signed by the president’s predecessor Barack Obama in 2015.
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