Iran Regime’s Interior Minister: Protests in 100 Cities, Clashes in 42 Cities, and We Still Face the Same Incidents

Deputy Interior Minister: Protests transcended all political currents in the country; spread very quickly, and violence was more than ever. Majority of those arrested lacked security record and 85% were under the age of 35.

In spite of all the lies and deceptions to conceal the real dimensions of the uprising in the last December and January, the clerical regime inevitably acknowledged the extent of the uprising through remarks by its Minister of Interior. He said, “The main character of the protests was its large dimension. In a night or two, protests spread to 100 cities, and we had clashes in 42 cities … The protests spread to cities and towns that maybe many had not heard the names of these cities until then. Since the level of discontent had escalated and become public, the protests could outbreak everywhere. …About 900 police officers were battered and wounded.”

Rahmani Fazli, who could not hide his concerns about the resurgence of the uprisings, said: “In more in-depth reviews, we come to other factors that were the main ground of the incidents and, unfortunately, we are still exposed to those incidents”. In a public confession to abhorrence of the clerical regime, especially by the young generation, he said, “After 39 years … we face a generation that, within the framework of the system and religious values, has different tendencies, beliefs, thoughts, relationships, demands, convictions and needs.” He added that ignoring these demands “would cause the accumulation of dissatisfaction; and frustrations will finally emerge somewhere.” (Iran, state run daily – March 11).

Earlier, Hossein Zolfaghari, deputy interior minister and secretary of the regime’s Security Council, had said about the January uprising, “We did not have such a phenomenon in the past. The protests were very rapid and generally spread to small towns, and violence in the protests was more than usual. These protests transcend all political currents in the country. Most of the arrested individuals had no security record, and 85% of them were under the age of 35. In this regard, it should be noted that 70% of the country are under the age of 40” (ILNA, state news agency -March 8).

While the uprising of workers and farmers and other deprived and marginalized toiling people and those looted by financial institutes, from Tehran and Khuzestan to Isfahan and Kurdistan and Arak, has spread all over the country, these remarks are only indicating the mullahs’ regime’s fear of the explosive situation of the society and the growing anger of the people who are determined to eradicate this corrupt and medieval regime and eliminate it from Iran’s history forever.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran