Huge anti-government protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities, videos show

Videos posted on social media show large crowds of protesters marching in Tehran and other Iranian cities in what is seen as the biggest show of force by opponents of the religious establishment in years.

Rallies in Tehran and Iran’s second city Mashhad can be seen in footage verified by BBC Persian, with peaceful protests not dispersed by security forces.

On Wednesday, violent clashes took place in several cities.

Crowds in Mashhad called for the overthrow of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the return of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the former Shah, who had urged his supporters to take to the streets.

This is the 12th consecutive day of unrest in Iran, which has seen protests spread to 140 cities and towns across 31 provinces, according to the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA).

It was reported that at least 34 protesters and seven members of the security forces were killed during the unrest and 2,270 protesters were arrested.

Another group, Iran Human Rights, based in Norway, said at least 45 protesters, including eight children, had been killed by security forces.

The Persian BBC confirmed the deaths and identities of 21 people, while Iranian authorities reported the deaths of five members of the security forces.

The protests began on December 28, when traders took to the streets of the capital, Tehran, to express their anger over another sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency, the rial, against the US dollar on the open market.

The rial has fallen to a record low over the past year and inflation has soared to 40% as sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program weigh on an economy also weakened by government mismanagement and corruption.

University students quickly joined the protests and they began to spread to other cities, with crowds frequently heard chanting slogans against the religious establishment.