DIGITAL LIFE

Iran's dictatorial regime and its usual tactic: completely shutting down the internet during widespread protests

People in Iran's capital shouted from their homes and rallied in the streets on Thursday night after a call by the country's exiled crown prince for a mass demonstration, witnesses said.

Internet access and telephone lines in Iran cut out immediately after the protests began.

CloudFlare, an internet firm, and the advocacy group NetBlocks reported the internet outage, both attributing it to Iranian government interference.

Attempts to dial landlines and mobile phones from Dubai to Iran could not be connected. Such outages have in the past been followed by intense government crackdowns.

It represents a new escalation in the protest movement, initially against Iran's ailing economy, that has spread nationwide across the Islamic Republic.

The protest represented the first test of whether the Iranian public could be swayed by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Pahlavi had called for demonstrations at 8 pm local on Thursday and Friday. When the clock struck, neighbourhoods across Tehran erupted in chanting, witnesses said.

The chants included "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to the Islamic Republic!" Others praised the shah, shouting: "This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!" Thousands could be seen on the streets.

"Great nation of Iran, the eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets and, as a united front, shout your demands," Pahlavi said in a statement.

"I warn the Islamic Republic, its leader and the (Revolutionary Guard) that the world and (President Donald Trump) are closely watching you. Suppression of the people will not go unanswered."

Demonstrations have included cries in support of the shah, something that could bring a death sentence in the past but now underlines the anger fuelling the protests.

Thursday saw a continuation of the demonstrations that popped up in cities and rural towns across Iran on Wednesday. More markets and bazaars shut down in support of the protesters.

So far, violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 39 people while more than 2,260 others have been detained, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said.

The growth of the protests increases the pressure on Iran’s civilian government and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

by mundophone