Shayan Ghajar

For the first time in a year, thousands of protesters gathered in the streets of Iran’s major cities despite a massive security presence on the streets. CNN’s correspondent, Reza Sayah, tweeted that his sources indicated tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets, while Financial Times puts the number at hundreds of thousands. In what is certainly proof that the Green Movement is alive and drawing inspiration from Egypt and Tunisia, many slogans chanted in the streets–according to both eyewitnesses and Youtube videos almost certainly from today–drew parallels between Iran and the two Arab countries which recently overthrew their governments.

“Not Gaza or Lebanon! Tunisia, Egypt, and Iran!” protesters shouted in the streets. Another popular slogan making the rounds in Tehran compared Iran’s Supreme Leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, to the ousted leaders of Egypt and Tunisia: “Mubarak, Ben Ali–it’s your turn, Seyyed Ali!” Another video featured the chant, “Whether Cairo or Tehran, death to tyrants!”

The number of videos posted from the streets of Iran to Youtube far exceeds those of the 2009 protests, indicating that despite the intensifying assault by the Islamic Republic’s security forces on any online sources of dissent, many Iranians continue to find ways to circumvent the web filters. Almost all reporting from Iran thus far on February 14 has been done by citizen journalists or callers from within Iran. Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan highlighted the reason professional journalists are unable to report on the protests with a recent tweet: “Al Jazeera correspondent not allowed to witness demo’s in Tehran. authorities quote security concerns…”

An InsideIRAN contact in Tehran explained the difficulties facing citizen journalists in filming or photographing protests: “I saw a man whose face was struck with something. I couldn’t tell what it was, but there was blood all over him and he fell down. The government is really worried about people with cameras and this man had a camera. He was taking pictures. The government doesn’t want any media coverage.”

Our contact also highlighted the importance of new media in facilitating the protests despite the near-blackout of all news related to February 14: “There was such little information about what to do and where to go. We got all our information from the internet.”

Amnesty International posted a statement during the demonstrations in Iran which attacked the Islamic Republic’s use of violence and censorship to quell the February 14 marches.

In what may be interpreted as a loud hint to the Islamic Republic, Turkish President Abdullah Gül stated during his trip to Tehran on February 14 that “without exception,” all states in the Middle East must listen to their people and implement their demands. “We see that sometimes when the leaders and heads of countries do not pay attention to the nations’ demands, the people themselves take action to achieve their demands,” Gül added. Gül’s trip is intended to strengthen trade ties between Iran and Turkey, currently reaching $10 billion per year and increasing rapidly. The Turkish president’s statement, given its timing and location, was likely intended as a rebuke to Tehran for its blatant attacks on free speech and freedom of assembly. Freedom of assembly is guaranteed in Article 27 of the Iranian Constitution.

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was more direct, saying there “needs to be a commitment to open up the political system, to hear the voices of the opposition and civil society” from the Iranian government. Secretary Clinton also attributed the demonstrations in Iran to the fall of Mubarak.

The energy that precipitated the fall of Mubarak certainly lent new wings to Iran’s Green Movement, largely absent from the streets for the past year. However, with a security apparatus far more draconian than Egypt’s, and segments of the population that still support the government in Tehran, the Green Movement’s future is far from certain. As long as Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi, who called for Monday’s protests and who often issue directives to demonstrate, are under house arrest and communications blackout, the Green Movement lacks direct leadership. Unconfirmed reports circulating on various news sites, both in Farsi and English, suggested that Greens may be attempting to mimic the protesters in Tahrir and camp out in public areas to maintain pressure on the government–though the same unconfirmed reports asserted that security forces were already attacking the burgeoning campsites.

Whatever the outcome, our contact in Iran stated that the Green Movement would persevere with or without its leaders as discontent and anger gain momentum in Iran due to the subsidy cuts and political infighting. When asked what the Green Movement hoped to see from outside Iran, our source requested that prominent Tunisian and Egyptian political groups and activists publish messages of solidarity with the opposition in Iran, which would be “a great moral boost.”