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IRAN HAS CELEBRATED the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid nationwide anti-government protests and heightened tensions with the West.
Thousands of Iranians marched through major streets and squares decorated with flags, balloons and placards with revolutionary and religious slogans.
The military put on display its Emad and Sejjil ballistic missiles and cruise missiles as well as its Shahed-136 and Mohajer drones.
In a speech at Azadi Square in the capital Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi referred to the anti-government protests as a project by Iran’s enemies aimed at stopping the nation from continuing its achievements.
Protesters began pouring into the streets in September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an Iranian-Kurdish woman detained by the country’s morality police.
Those demonstrations, initially focused on Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, soon moved into calls for a new revolution.
Mr Raisi called the anniversary celebration “epic” and a show of “national integrity” while praising post-revolution achievements in the country.
The remarks prompted the crowd to chant, “Death to the US”.
Meanwhile, Telewebion, a web TV service affiliated with Iranian state television, was briefly hacked during Mr Raisi’s speech, Iranian media reported. The khabaronline.ir news website said the interruption lasted 19 seconds.
Edalate Ali, or The Justice Of Ali, hackers’ group in a 44-second video published on Twitter, invited people to take part in nationwide protests next week and urged Iranians to withdraw their money from the banks.
Chants including “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the Islamic Republic” could be heard on the video as a masked person with a woman’s voice read the message.
The anniversary comes after two years in which celebrations were largely limited to people in vehicles due to the pandemic that killed more than 140,000 people in Iran, the highest national death toll in the Middle East.
As I have said before.
It is not ultimately a food crisis but an overpopulation issue in a region of our planet which cannott sustain such a large amount of people.
Birthcontrol and education are crucial in resolving this.
U hit the nail on the head. This is not like the Irish famine . Ireland has always being able to grow enough food. It’s having too many children in desert areas
This is not just a contraception issue, its also a cultural issue.
I work in maternity services and we have many African women having 12 or 13 children. These women and their husbands do not work and are a massive drain on this country.
You cannot expect people who are starving to go look for condoms when what they actually want is a bigger family as its ‘part of their culture’ to have massive families. It will take much more and years of education.
In work 2 weeks ago, I dealt with 2 African ladies, one pregnant with her 13th child and another pregnant with her 11th. 2 African women having the same number of children as 11-12 Irish women is not going to help Ireland.
I am only seeing this thread now, sorry…!
I interviewed Sorcha Nic Mhathúna Oxfam’s Communications Consultant on the crisis on Raidió na Life last month. I will be interviewing her again for an update. The interview below is in Irish but I plan to cover it as Béarla also next week.
have your say