News

This morning a fresh round of opposition demonstrations erupted across Iran and there have been widespread clashes reported between protesters and various state security forces, the police and the paramilitary Basij militia. The troubles are seemingly focused in the main on Tehran's universities, as well as those in the provincial cities of Isfahan, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Mashhad, Tabriz and Karaj. Troubles have also been reported elsewhere in Tehran.

The protests are testimony both to the extent of grievances still widely held among a large section of the Iranian population and to the bravery of the Iranian people even in the face of state violence and repression.

It seems likely that state forces will successfully quash today's demonstrations. However the recurrence of protests and the regime's use of violence and oppression to suppress the uprisings highlights the ongoing political crisis in Iran and the fundamental lack of legitimacy of the ruling elite. The intolerance of criticism by the Iranian state will surely only further radicalise protesters.

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