Tens of thousands of Iranians gathered in central Tehran and major cities on Saturday to mark the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, nearly five months after the start of a protest movement sparked by the death of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amen.

President Ibrahim Raisi was expected to address people gathered in the capital’s Azadi (“Freedom”) Square for the celebration, AFP reported, citing Agerpres.

In 2021 and 2022, the 1979 Revolution anniversary ceremonies were cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But this year, the government gave impetus to these holidays, organized in 1,400 cities of the country, television reports.

At Azadi Square, those present waved portraits of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as the popular General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a raid by the American army in January. 2020 in Baghdad.

The participants shouted “Down with the USA”, “Down with Israel”, “Down with Great Britain”, the main opponents of the Islamic Republic since 1979, and called for support for a “united, strong and stable Iran”.

Iranian-made Sejjil missiles and Shahed 136 drones were deployed around the huge square.

But we also heard “Death to the dictator” or “Death to the Islamic Republic”

But many could hear cries like “Death to the dictator!” on videos posted on social networks, writes Reuters. In the video, believed to have been shot in Tehran’s Afsaria district, fireworks can be seen in the distance and protesters chanting “Death to the Islamic Republic”. In similar videos posted on social media, which Reuters said could not be independently verified, anti-government slogans can be heard being shouted from windows and rooftops by protesters who stayed indoors in several cities.

The celebrations come as the country has been rocked by a protest movement following the September 16, 2022, death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who died after being arrested by police who accused her of violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.

According to authorities, hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed in the context of the demonstrations, the intensity of which has decreased in recent weeks.

Thousands of people were arrested, including cultural figures, lawyers and journalists. On the anniversary of the Revolution, the government announced the release of a “significant number” of detainees, including the Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelha, who was arrested in Iran in June 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security. .

Prominent Iranians in exile are looking for ways to unite the opposition

Separately, eight Iranian exiles announced on Friday that they were discussing ways to unite the fractured opposition in the context of the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Reuters reported.

“The Islamic Republic has only survived because of our misunderstandings, and we must put aside our differences until we get to the polls,” Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi said in a video address to a gathering of key opposition figures. held at Georgetown University in Washington.

“We need to agree on the principles of the human rights declaration, the elimination of discrimination and the principles that every Iranian stands for and that embody the end of oppression,” said American women’s rights lawyer Masih Alinejad.

Alinejad expressed hope that an agreement on the principles of the opposition could be concluded by the end of 2023.

Asked why there was only one Kurdish leader among the eight prominent opposition figures, namely Reza Pahlavi, son of the exiled former Shah of Iran, she said: “No one should wait for an invitation to participate… The ride is free!”

Iran’s opposition has long been divided into numerous factions both at home and abroad, and includes monarchists, republicans, left-wing forces and organizations that unite ethnic minorities such as Kurds, Baluchis and Arabs, Reuters noted.