Iran Celebrates 1979 US Embassy Seizure amid Anti-government Protests

This image grab from a UGC video posted on November 3, 2022, reportedly shows protesters throwing a small explosive device at a banner depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as a large crowd enters the district of Fuladshahr near the central city of Isfahan. (Photo by UGC / AFP)
This image grab from a UGC video posted on November 3, 2022, reportedly shows protesters throwing a small explosive device at a banner depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as a large crowd enters the district of Fuladshahr near the central city of Isfahan. (Photo by UGC / AFP)
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Iran Celebrates 1979 US Embassy Seizure amid Anti-government Protests

This image grab from a UGC video posted on November 3, 2022, reportedly shows protesters throwing a small explosive device at a banner depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as a large crowd enters the district of Fuladshahr near the central city of Isfahan. (Photo by UGC / AFP)
This image grab from a UGC video posted on November 3, 2022, reportedly shows protesters throwing a small explosive device at a banner depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as a large crowd enters the district of Fuladshahr near the central city of Isfahan. (Photo by UGC / AFP)

Iran held state-sponsored annual rallies on Friday marking the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, as the clerical establishment that has ruled since then struggles to suppress nationwide protests calling for its downfall.

Radical students cemented Iran's revolution by storming the embassy soon after the fall of the US-backed Shah, and 52 Americans were held hostage there for 444 days.

The two countries have been enemies ever since and, as Iranian authorities on Friday urged security forces to swiftly stamp out the anti-government protests, which have spread to all layers of society, new bilateral tensions surfaced.

Iran's president and foreign minister criticized Joe Biden, a day after the US president vowed to "free Iran".

Images broadcast on state television showed anti-American demonstrations attended by tens of thousands of people across the country on the "National Day of Fighting Global Arrogance", while songs called for "Death to America" and schoolchildren carried banners in support of the embassy seizure.

Friday's pro-establishment demonstrations offered a stark contrast to the wave of protests sweeping the country since a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody on Sept. 16 after being arrested for being inappropriately dressed.

While past demonstrations have focused on issues such as election results and economic hardships, the current protesters, who include minority Sunnis and Kurds, are determined to secure a new political order.

On Friday, the widely followed 1500 Tasvir activist Twitter account reported protests in the cities of Zahedan, Khash and Saravan in Sistan-Baluchistan, a province where most of Iran's Sunni Baluch minority live.

The impoverished area is close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan that has been a hotbed of unrest.

The semi-official news agency Tasnim said an unspecified number of people were injured in clashes in which protesters attacked a government building in Khash and torched several vehicles and security forces opened fire.

Tasnim carried a video purporting to show a burned bank and damaged storefronts in Khash after the unrest, with dark smoke billowing from a building.

A 1500 Tasvir video that Reuters could not verify showed protesters there throwing stones at security forces while gunshots were heard.

State news agency IRNA said several policemen were injured in the clashes.

Fear factor

The protests present one of the biggest challenges to the authority of the leadership enshrined by the revolution, with many young Iranians overcoming the fear that has stifled dissent ever since.

Iran, trying to strike a nuclear deal with world powers and get relief from sanctions that have increased hardships for many Iranians, has blamed the United States and other foreign enemies for the unrest, saying they want to destabilize the country.

Biden said on Thursday the demonstrators would soon succeed in freeing themselves.

"Don't worry, we're gonna free Iran. They’re gonna free themselves pretty soon," Biden said during a campaign speech in California. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said on Friday Biden had been expressing solidarity with the protesters.

President Ebrahim Raisi described the protesters as "deceived traitors", adding: "I am telling Biden that Iran was freed 43 years ago."

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian accused Biden of hypocrisy. "The White House has increasingly promoted violence and terror in the recent riots in Iran, while at the same time it is trying to reach a nuclear agreement," he said in a tweet.

Raisi's deputy, Mohammad Hosseini, called on security forces to "work swiftly to end the riots".

Women, who have been burning their veils, and university students are playing a prominent role in the demonstrations, which call for the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, but they have attracted support from a broad cross-section of society.

The activist HRANA news agency said on Friday that 300 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of Thursday including 47 minors, as well as 37 members of the security forces.

More than 14,000 people have been arrested in demonstrations in 134 cities and towns, and at 132 universities, it said.



Public Mourns 35 Killed in Attack at Sports Complex in Southern Chinese City

 A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
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Public Mourns 35 Killed in Attack at Sports Complex in Southern Chinese City

 A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)

Members of the public paid their respects Wednesday to people killed by a driver who rammed into people exercising a sports complex in southern China, as the country mourned, but little information was available about the suspect or the victims in the attack.

The crash Monday night in Zhuhai killed 35 people and severely injured 43 others, and the driver was detained as he was trying to escape. Authorities said the 62-year-old man with the surname Fan was upset over his divorce settlement.

Members of the public had started bringing flowers in honor of the victims Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday.

There was a light police presence in the morning at the Zhuhai sports complex, which was closed until further notice, but the number of officers increased as the morning passed.

While police allowed people to leave bouquets of flowers in memory of the dead just outside the entrance of the sports complex, volunteers then quickly moved the flowers inside to the sports center.

“May there be no thugs in heaven,” said the message on one bouquet. “Good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished.”

The attack occurred on the eve of the Zhuhai Airshow, an aviation exhibition sponsored by the People's Liberation Army that is held every two years.

China authorities often make extra efforts to tightly control information around major or sensitive events like the airshow. Censors also take extra care around major catastrophes or violence, often censoring eyewitness accounts. Clear information on the death and injury toll was not available for almost 24 hours after the attack.

Videos were quickly censored inside China, though they circulated outside the Great Firewall. They were posted by Teacher Li, an artist turned dissident who runs a X account with 1.7 million followers that posts crowdsourced videos about news in China.

Articles from Chinese media featuring interviews with survivors were quickly taken down Monday and Tuesday. The news that trended about the attack was largely based on official statements from authorities.

Police said their preliminary investigation found Fan was dissatisfied with the split of financial assets in his divorce. Beyond that description, further information was not available on his divorce or alleged motive.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the “strict” punishment of the perpetrator according to law, in a statement Tuesday evening.

He also called on all local governments “to strengthen prevention and control of risks at the source, strictly prevent extreme cases from occurring, and to resolve conflicts and disputes in a timely manner,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.