Thousands of people took to the streets of Kazerun, a southern Iranian city about 420 miles south of Tehran in Fars Province Wednesday, to protest the plan to divide up the city.
The protesters were chanting, “The enemy is right here, they’re lying when they say it’s America,” and “beware of the day we pick up arms.”
The regime reacted violently by first firing tear gas in to the crowd. The regime then shot directly at the protesters, who responded by hurling rocks and pieces of wood at security forces and setting tires ablaze.
Tehran forces reportedly killed two individuals and left dozens wounded. Many of the protestors have been detained, according to the sources inside Iran working with the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK).
Hundreds of people gathered outside the city’s police headquarters demanding the release of the detainees while chanting “We are waiting for our children, will stay here and go nowhere.”
All shops and banks in the city are closed Thursday. The protesters broke the windows at many of the banks within the area. In the streets leading to the city’s main square, called Shohada Square (formerly Kheirat), there are many burned tires. Smoke has filled the air and people are now having difficulty breathing.
After anti-riot forces were dispatched to the city from Shiraz, the individuals that were protesting charged at them and hand-to-hand clashes ensued.
Two security force trailers were set on fire at Shohada (Martyrs) Square. So far, four Police vehicles have been set ablaze, leaving the city to look like a war zone. All internet and mobile phones have been cut off.
In a series of tweets issued today, Maryam Rajavi, who heads the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), hailed the heroic people of Kazerun, while extending her condolences to the bereaved families of the victims. She called for the immediate release of the those detained and urged the United Nations to dispatch a fact-finding mission to Kazerun to investigate the latest regime atrocity.
The action from protesters looking to overthrow the Iranian regime come amid a string of protests in Kazerun and other Iranian cities. The people are venting their anger at the dire economic situation, rampant government corruption and the denial of their basic freedoms.
“The anti-regime protests that began in January have continued in different parts of the country ever since and make it abundantly clear that the Iranian people, especially the youth, will not relent until they achieve their goal, which is the overthrow of the clerical regime in its entirety. The mullahs are more vulnerable than ever, and the regime change is very much within reach,” said Shahin Gobadi, the MEK spokesman in Paris.
Protests ensued on Dec. 28 last year and quickly spread across the country as regime corruption continued.
According to an article from Fox News, a White House adviser and an expert on Iran said, “When the president withdrew from the nuclear deal he explicitly called to the Iranian people to shrug off the totalitarian theocrats who’ve been oppressing them. The supporters of Obama’s Iran deal said the withdrawal would only strengthen hardliners. The ongoing protests show they were wrong again.”
Earlier this month, on the topic of the Iran Nuclear Deal and Iran’s people, President Trump said, “Most of Iran’s 80 million citizens have sadly never known an Iran that prospered in peace with its neighbors and commanded the admiration of the world. But the future of Iran belongs to its people.”