Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – Footage on social media purportedly showed protests continuing across Iran overnight from January 5-6.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show protests in Tehran, Mashhad, Arak, Khomein, Qazvin, Masjed Soleiman, Takestan, and in the central province of Esfahan, according to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
This video appears to show soccer fans chanting slogans during a game in Tabriz, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province, a predominately ethnic Azeri region. Fans can be heard saying, “The people of Azerbaijan reject suffering and abjection.”
Elsewhere, a large crowd in the city of Masjed Soleiman, in southwest province of Khuzestan, came out to mourn the death of two protesters killed in recent days.
This video purports to show protesters shouting antigovernment slogans.
Khuzestan Province has a predominately Arab population and is the center of oil production in Iran. Protests have been especially intense in Ahvaz, the largest city in Khuzestan.
Protests in Khomein:
Khomein, the birthplace of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, was not spared the anger of antigovernment protesters. A video purports to show a large crowd coming out for the first time in the city on January 5 shouting, “God bless your soul Reza Shah,” a reference to the former shah of Iran who ruled until 1941.
Reza Shah was the founding king of the Pahlavi dynasty, who put Iran on the path to modernization. The monarchy was toppled in the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Antigovernment demonstrators have been chanting pro-monarchy slogans across Iran since the current protests erupted on December 28.
