Nationwide protests by citizens continued into their fourth day on Wednesday, December 31. On this day, people gathered in the cities of Kuhdasht in Lorestan province, Isfahan, Kermanshah, and Fasa in Fars province. In some cities, security forces opened fire on citizens.
In Fasa, citizens held a protest gathering, stormed the city’s governorate building, and lit fires in the street in front of it.
Protesters in this city also chanted slogans such as “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Khamenei.”
Videos and reports published on social media indicate that repressive forces directly fired at protesting people in Fasa. At least one person was injured in the shooting.
On Wednesday afternoon, similar reports were published of regime forces firing at citizens during a protest gathering in the city of Kuhdasht.
Protesters in the city of Kermanshah also held a protest gathering on December 31 and chanted slogans such as “Death to the dictator.” In Isfahan, a gathering also took place in Naqsh-e Jahan Square.
Reports have also been published of a heavy security atmosphere and the deployment of regime forces and water cannon vehicles in various parts of Tehran, including Valiasr Street.
Call by students of Kurdistan University and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
Reports indicate that there has been a call by a group of students from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad to hold a protest gathering on Wednesday, December 31.
In part of their statement they said that they, the students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, are heirs to the ideals of freedom and resistance.
They statement emphasized that the university is not a place for fear, and students will not be mere spectators. Protest is our right, sit-ins are our tool, and resistance is our path. The younger generation does not accept injustice and will not surrender the future at the price of fear.
The students from the University of Kurdistan, while supporting the nationwide uprising of the people of Iran, have called for a protest gathering on Wednesday, December 31.
While calling themselves as the children of the rugged and brave mountains of Iran, they will take to the street for their rights, freedom, and a just future. And added that they will uproot the foundations of this corrupt system. Silence in the face of oppression and corruption is no longer acceptable. Our voice will echo throughout Iran.
Regime security forces tried to arrest the students in Mashhad using Irancell and Hamrah-e Aval vans
Following the publication of the call by Ferdowsi University of Mashhad for a gathering, bus services on some routes were suspended.
Iran: People in Fasa Rally in Front of Governor’s Office, Security Forces Open Fire on Protesters
Regime security forces have been deployed with vans disguised as those of mobile operators “Irancell” and “Hamrah-e Aval” around Janbaz Square and Park Roundabout in Mashhad to transport forces and arrest protesters.
Reports indicate that the regime’s plainclothes forces are moving around the city in groups of four to five, wearing high-top sneakers—an action that, according to local sources, is intended to prevent identification and remote attacks on security vehicles.
Global reactions to the ongoing protests in Iran continue
The Persian-language account of the U.S. Department of State on X expressed concern about intimidation, violence, and the arrest of peaceful protesters and emphasized that the Islamic Republic must end the repression of the people.
Germany’s Bild newspaper, in a report on the protests in Iran, described the retreat of repressive forces in the face of protesters as highly meaningful.
The German newspaper wrote that images of protesters pushing back security forces are symbolically very meaningful because they reveal the weaknesses of Iran’s regime for the first time—images that are usually unimaginable in Iran.
Der Spiegel magazine also referred to the causes of the protests in Iran, writing that finding a solution to the problems will not be easy and that, in the view of observers, the regime’s options are limited.
Chosun Daily, one of South Korea’s oldest and most widely circulated newspapers, also addressed the protests in Iran and strikes by bazaar merchants, writing that protests that began with Iran’s economic crisis have gone beyond urban centers and spread to university environments.
India Today, a major Indian media outlet, reported on the echoing of the slogan “The mullahs must go” in cities across Iran.
