Widespread anti-regime protests erupted across Iran on Sunday night as the Islamic Republic marked its 46th anniversary amid growing anger towards the clerics in power.
Citizens voiced their dissent against the Islamic regime through co-ordinated demonstrations from homes and rooftops in multiple cities, with people openly chanting “death to the dictator”.
The public display of anger towards the Tehran regime comes amid escalating tensions within Iran, marked by increasing economic hardship, international isolation, and growing public dissatisfaction with the government’s policies, particularly regarding personal freedoms and human rights.
Combined, this has left the Iranian government in its weakest position since the revolution of 1979.
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Israeli victories over its proxies – Hamas and Hezbollah – and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria have also severely weakened Tehran’s power.
As government-sponsored fireworks and light displays illuminated the sky to commemorate the revolution, residents in several neighbourhoods of Tehran and other major cities responded with anti-government chants, primarily targeting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader.
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The night before the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the regime usually urges people to chant “Allah o Akbar” (God is greater) from their rooftops.
However, on Sunday, residents were filmed chanting “death to the dictator” and “death to Khamenei” instead.
Other chants included “death to Khamenei the Zahhak”, referring to a mythical king in Persian literature said to have fed serpents growing out of his shoulders with young people’s brains.
A resident of Karaj, near Tehran, told The Telegraph: “I live in the same building as some intelligence officers, and while I couldn’t do anything, I overheard a lot of people chanting from their windows and rooftops.”
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He added: “People have reached a breaking point, and now many are suffering mentally. Things are getting more expensive every day, and more people are sinking into poverty – it’s heartbreaking.”
Some residents were protesting the country’s increasing use of capital punishment and chanted “death to the republic of executions”.
The demonstrations extended beyond the capital, with similar protests reported in several major cities.
In western Kermanshah, demonstrators were heard chanting: “This year is the year of blood, Seyed Ali will be overthrown.”
The government’s celebrations were widely rejected, showing its growing disconnect from the people.
The choice to protest on the revolution’s anniversary sends a message about public attitudes toward the Islamic regime, 46 years after its establishment.
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Other forms of protest in recent months have included women defying the mandatory hijab and citizens knocking the turbans off clerics’ heads, the latter being captured in several videos.
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Citizens, mostly young men, are seen in the clips approaching a cleric from behind as they walk down a street, before knocking off his turban. The culprit is then seen running away before the cleric can react.
A resident of Karaj told The Telegraph: “The mullahs are the most hated people on the streets, especially since the 2022 protests – you would often see people in empty streets knocking their [clerics’] turbans off or spitting on them.”
He added: “No one believes in them anymore – they are the main and only source of our problems. If they walk into a shop, people won’t look at them, and when they leave, people start cursing them.”
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